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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



q.S_ . _fcp 



BOOK OF GEMS, cioth, - - - $ 2 . o. 

Library, - - - 2.5O. 
Morocco, - - 4.OO 

LIFE AND TIMES OF BENJ. FRANKLIN. 

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Library, - - - 2.50 

Morocco, ... 4.00 

"SYMPOSIUM ON THE HOLY SPIRIT," 

CLOTH, 75 Cents. 



m lira® in ©HMif v 



9» 

By G. W. LONGAK 



£f=WILL BE READY DECEMBER 25th. =f3J 

A HAND-BOOK OF CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE. 

By LAURENCE W. SCOTT. 
A BOOK @F ABOUT 30© PAQES. 



IN COURSE OF PREPARATION, 

TESTIMONIES TO TRUTH, 

— on — 

MASTERPIECES OF MANY MINDS. 

By J. W. MONSER. 



7/7 Olive Street, ST. LOUIS, MO. 

fr-g— — — S'b 



' 



-OR- 



Choice Selections 



FROM THE WRITINGS OF 

/ 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 



&SSAN5E9 WS 



J'A. HEADINGTON, 



—AND— 



JOSEPH FRANKLIN. 



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ST. LOUIS: 

1879. 



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THB LIBRARYU 

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Copyrighted by 

JOHN BURNS, 

1879. 



Stereotyped by St. Louis Type Foundry. 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



PAGB. 

A. Campbell's "Successors and Critics 241 

A Choir 230 

A Happy Meeting 260 

A Hard Question for Preachers 458 

A Higher Morality Required 24 

A Mighty Good Foundation 457 

A Mother's Grave , 140 

A Phalanx of Young Men 393 

A Suggestion 99 

A Working Ministry 130 

Activity in the Ministry 4 453 

Adhering to the Bible 207 

Affirmative Gospel 428 

All Things Common 94 

Annihilation — Future Punishment 100 

Anointing with Oil. 396 

Apology for Creeds « 120 

Authority of a Single Congregation 243 

Baptism of the Holy Spirit 407 

Be firm in the Right 65 

Belief in the Bible is Infallibly Safe 371 

Believers only to be Baptized 350 

Bible Names , 368 

Bodies Resurrected, not Spirits 395 

Born of Water and the Spirit 21 

Boundary Line of Repentance 166 

Branches of the Church 292 

Cain's Wife , 105 

Call no ManReverend 30 

Can not a Man know that he is a Christian 381 

Christianity 159 

Christian Zeal 196 

Christmas 227 



IV. INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 

TAGE. 

Christ the Center 186 

Christ will come 234 

Church Decisions 262 

Church Membership 349 

Church Organization 42 

Classification of Missionary Men 244 

Clerical Young- Pastors 277 

Come out of Babylon , 471 

Communion 217 

Conclusion of the Year s98 

Converting the Cities 259 

Controversy 354 

Controversy about the Spirit 355 

Courtesy in Fellowship 231 

Dancing is a Healthful Exercise 363 

Dedication of Church Edifices 221 

/• Delay in Turning to the Lord 282 

Deluded 95 

Design of Miracles '. 103 

Developing the Talents of the Young 475 

Dialogue about the Preacher 489 

Disturbing Element 191 

Eating the Lord's Flesh and Drinking His Blood 40 

Earnestly Contending for the Faith 374 

Enduring Hardness as Good Soldiers 280 

Evangelists and Evangelizing 126 

Evangelists — Pastors 320 

Everlasting and Eternal 279 

Exalted Position of Jesus 383 

Exchanging Pulpits 209 

Excuse for Creeds 146 

/ Extent of One Man's Influence 420 

Faith Comes by Hearing 316 

Faith, Repentance and Baptism do not Pardon 308 

Feet Washing 253 

Fine Clothes 90 

Future Success of the Lord's Army 952 

Giving up Principles 397 

Glorying in the Cross of Christ 439 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. V. 

PAGE. 

Hardening Pharaoh's Heart 15 

Hear ye Him 123 

How a Preacher may Stand Fair 281 

/-"How the Cause of Reformation was Advanced 391 

How the World Regards Dancers 297 

Household Baptisms 433 

Imperfect Medium for a Perfect Revelation 482 

/-Individuality after Death 369 

Infant Sin — Infant Salvation 108 

Influence of the Dance 245 

Innovations in the Church of Christ 413 

In Season and out of Season 38 

Is it Possible to Arouse the People 138 

^Jesus Revealed as the Savior 379 

Judgment the Ground of Repentance 202 

Keep Politics out of the Church 160 

Kind of Preachers and Preaching Needed 211 

Knowing and not Doing 435 

Laying the Corner Stone of a Catholic Cathedral 271 

Lifted Above Sects and Parties 69 

^ Light Within 61 

* Little Matters 53 

Lord's Day Meetings 270 

Lotteries 11 

Maintain a Pure Faith and Worship 289 

Making the Bible Support Human Systems 71 

Man's Accountability 462 

Mark Those Who Cause Divisions 335 

Men can and do Believe 345 

Methodist Clerical Pretensions 265 

Ministering Angels 58 

Miracles 426 

Moody and Sankey 267 

My Church 403 

My Kingdom is not of this World 466 

No Campbellites 258 

/ No Departure from the Jerusalem Church 20 

No Division can come 48 

No Modification of the Divine Plan 246 



VI. INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 

PAGE. 

No Preachers on Dancing 12 

No Side Structure 59 

Not of One Class 205 

Not Receiving the Reformation, but Christ 08 

Not to Keep Company 419 

Observing- the Sabbath 333 

One Baptism 190 

One Idea Ism 56 

One Immersion 410 

One Religion 235 

One Way to God 248 

Our Authoratative Religion Ill 

Our Census 17 

Our Plea 250 

Outward Appearance 51 

Over and Through the Mountains 148 

Overlooking Humble but Good Men 484 

Paul and James on Justification by Faith 352 

Paying Preachers a Stipulated Sum 32G 

<- Preach " First Principles " 474 

Personality of the Devil 270 

Pioneers, Support, etc 73 

Poimeen — Shepherd — Evangelist — Overseer 25 

Policy in Preaching 407 

Popular Amusements 451 

Popular Union Meetings 240 

Praise God by Singing 232 

Prayer 304 

Prayer Books 341 

Preachers Belonging to no Church 220 

Preach Christ, not Ourselves 329 

Preacher did not Suit 30 

Present Punishment will not Save 133 

Progressing Backward 46 

Protracted Meetings, Excitements, etc 309 

Public Opinion — Infant Damnation 384 

Pulpits 122 

Reason, Providence, and the Spirit of God, Teach us to Obey God. 150 

Receiving Sinners without Baptism 175 

Reckless Twaddle 78 

Recognition of, by Sects 301 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. vil". 

PAGE. 

Reflections for Dancers 112 

Reformation a Success 96 

Reign of a Thousand Years 263 

Religion and Politics 336 

Resurrection — AdamicSin 325 

Resurrection of Lazarus 89 

Revelation of the Mystery 372 

Riches of Faith 188 

. Saved without Baptism 299 

Scene in a Hotel 314 

Sectarianism 357 

Self-laudation 328 

Shorter Catechism of Universalians. 446 

Small Improprieties and Annoyances 409 

Speak Pleasantly 179 

Spirit of Indifference 118 

Some Things can not be Settled 50 

Sound Men 225 

Subtleties about Immersion 92 

Suggestions to a Young Sceptic 487 

Success to Good Men 255 

Summary of Arguments on the Action of Baptism 455 

Support Workers 77 

Tediousness in Public Devotions 323 

Tendency of Universalism 142 

The Action of Baptism 443 

The Bible Will Save the World 66 

The Bible Infallibly Safe 145 

The Bible and Bible Men 405 

The Bible Ground 414 

The Bible vs. Human Creeds 438 

The Cause of Christ is Above Partisan Politics 469 

The Christian Ministry 44 

The Church in the Wilderness 223 

The Church of Christ a Proselyting Institution 331 

The Converting Power 480 

The Fall of Beecher 176 

The Genealogy of Christ 206 

The Grand Work Before Us 3 

The Ground of Union 36 

The Kind of Preaching Required 82 

The Knowledge Necessary Before Baptism , , , 351 



VI 11 INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 

PAGE. 

" The Love of Christ Constrains 496 

The Mission of Infidels 134 

The Old and New Testaments 31 

The Pardoning Power is Only in God 440 

The Secret of Success in Preaching 322 

The Shortness of Human Life 1 

The Warning 390 

The Work of Creation 8 

The Work of the Disciples 417 

Theory and Practice 479 

Things Not Forbidden 290 

Thirty Years Ago 370 

Too Late for the Cars 209 

True Missionaries 18 

The New and the Old 464 

^-Universalism 75 

Universalism Unbelief. 274 

Unprofitable Servants 165 

Upward Tendency — Reformation not a Failure — Missionary Work. 343 

Value of Learning 143 

Various Kinds of Scepticism 180 

Wandering Pilgrims 219 

Wealth of Alexander Campbell 303 

We are a Missionary People 88 

We are No Sect 286 

We have a Perfect Gospel to Preach 366 

What a Preacher Must Be 477 

What We Are For 97 

What is Essential 106 

What We Know is Eight 107 

What is Campbellism ? 166 

What must I do to be Saved 317 

Where is the Army of the Lord 251 

Where is the Power 213 

Who Crucified the Savior 195 

Whom the Lord Receives 294 

Why Infidels Oppose the Bible 423 

Wielding the Sword of the Spirit 284 

Wjll You also Go Away 36 

Women in the Church 194 

Young Preachers Must Be Practical 157 



PREFACE. 



The writings of no man among the Christian Brotherhood have been 
so universally popular as those of Benjamin Franklin, save the extended 
writings of Alexander Campbell. Franklin's volumes of Sermons, 
Debates and Tracts, together with his miscellaneous writings, have for 
many years been in general demand, and have met with ready sale. 

No excuse is offered for this volume, save that of public demand. 
The public demanded the volume, and it is, therefore, submitted. 

None but the most choice selections, gathered from numerous val- 
uable writings, have been allowed space in this volume. The book is 
what it purports to be, a collection of Gems that sparkle in the 
light of Heaven's Truth as diamonds in the sky. 

The reader, by referring to the Index, can easily turn and get the 
views of the Author on very many momentous subjects. 

The volume will prove, as we trust, a monument to the memory of a 
great and good man, and a treasure to every Christian household. 

The volume is sent forth with the prayer that the truth it contains 
may sanctify and make glad many, many hearts. 

J. A. H. 



THE SHORTNESS OF HUMAN LIFE. 



J' t'ATION" after nation rises, enters and occupies a 
place among the nations of the earth, falls, and 
y is only known in the faithful records of history. 
Generation after generation comes forth, enters upon 
the great theatre of life, throngs the world for a little 
while, falls in death and passes into eternity. Upon 
an average, about once in thirty-three years, the 
whole of the inhabitants of the earth, or as many as 
are upon it at any one time, over one billion souls, 
are carried beyond the reach of all missionary effort — 
beyond the reach of all repentance — all gospel invi- 
tations, and so many as are not saved, beyond all 
possibility of salvation. During the same short 
period, the preachers, missionaries, writers and pro- 
fessors of religion of one generation are all born 
where no mistakes can be corrected, and no amend- 
ment for wrongs done, or time trifled away, can ever 
be made. Taking off from this time, eighteen years 
for childhood, only leaves about fifteen years for the 
vast work of personal preparation, for a state of 
boundless duration in the pure and holy society of 
just men made perfect, the angels of God, Jesus 
the mediator of the New Covenant, and God, the 
Judge of all. It also leaves about the same length of 
time for the good and virtuous, those with the love of 
God in their hearts, and lovers of mankind to make 
an effort to save our race. In this view of the sub- 



2 BOOK OF GEMS. 

ject — and no other can be justly taken — it will readily 
be perceived that what we do must be done quickly. 
Those who do anything for mankind, mnst engage in 
the work immediately and with energy. All who 
intend laying up a good foundation against the time 
to come — laying up treasure in heaven to which they 
can go, and upon which they can rely when their 
temporal supports shall all fail, must commence the 
work immediately, persevere in it, and abound during 
the short space afforded them. There must be no 
delay, for there is simply time enough to do what 
must be done immediately, if done at all. Those who 
have never prepared to meet God, have still greater 
reason to enter at once upon the examination of the 
subject. With them, everything to secure their eter- 
nal happiness, so far as their own action is concerned, 
is yet to be done. 

How short the time, in view of the amount to be 
done ; and how carefully every moment should be em- 
ployed by every person who has not been reconciled 
to God. What vast multitudes, throng our streets, 
lanes and highways, who have never seriously thought 
upon, much less taken the elementary steps, to come 
to God, and who will remain in their present condition, 
unless arrested in their thoughtless career, by those 
who have already tested the good word of God, and 
felt the power of the world to come. What an ever- 
lasting reason we find here for a most energetic, per- 
severing, and godly effort to rescue them and bring 
them to God. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 



THE GRAND WORK BEFORE US. 



^HE people God lias raised up in the nineteenth 
century and founded upon the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus the Christ, the chief corner-stone, 
have not been raised up in vain. Only a small part of 
their work is in history yet. What has "been done is 
only a drop to the bucket of the stupendous work to 
be accomplished. It is only a foretaste, an earnest of 
what is yet to come. It is only the incipient move- 
ment, the inauguration of the work, the entering 
wedge. The great body of the work lies in the future. 
Let no man become disheartened if a few faint-hearted 
do turn back and hanker after the flesh-pots of Egypt. 
In all great movements some of these have been found. 
They were in the camps of Moses and among the 
first followers of Jesus. They have been the timid, 
faithless time-servers, afraid of the people and lovers 
of the world. But these are only spots in the feast, 
mere blemishes, and no more to the great body than 
the spots in the sun compared with that wonderful 
body. These poor little souls that desire to be like the 
clergy, or to be actual clergymen themselves ; that want 
titles, and the people to call them Dr., Rev. ; that get 
on the white cravat, the priestly coat buttoned up to 
the chin ; that drop on their knees and make a public 
private prayer, as they enter the " sacred desk," and 
that teach the disciples to drop the head and offer a 
secret private public prayer before an assembly, are 



4 BOOK OF GEMS. 

not the men whom God sends. They are the men 
who think the largest offer in money is the loudest call 
from God, and the call which they olbey most implic- 
itly. They can be bought and sold like sheep and 
oxen. God never calls such men as these. They are 
a burlesque on the religion of Jesus Christ ; the plain- 
ness, simplicity and humility of our Lord. The idea 
has never entered into their heads to be servants of 
Jesus Christ. Their idea is to be masters. They are 
not thinking of obeying, unless to obey the men with 
the largest purses ; but their idea is to be obeyed. They 
are not thinking of adoring, but of being adored. The 
third epistle of Peter is the one in which they find 
their likeness, and they are following the directions in 
that epistle. Some of these may be reformed, and 
others will go to their own place. They are not the 
men that run tlie world; the world runs tliem. 

But there is another class, that do not worship at 
the same altar with these, nor are they of the same 
stripe. They do not draw their divinity from cleri- 
cal titles or clerical attire, nor from public private 
prayers, from imitating Jewish rabbis, or sectarian 
rabbis, from imitating ancient or modern Pharisees or 
Sadducees, but from the living oracles of the living 
God. They are not under the thumbs of rich men, 
nor under the influence of high salaries ; nor ancient 
nor modern priests. They cannot be bought and sold. 
They are the Lord's free men. They have cut loose 
from the bondage of the world of sin, of sectarianism 
and the clergy. They belong to Christ. They get 
their gospel from him. They are his servants. They 
adore and worship him. They are men of faith and 
of prayer, too, but when they pray in secret, it is in 



BOOK OF GEMS. 5 

secret, where none but Him who sees in secret sees 
them. They know their Bible and they are devoted 
to it. There is a grand army of these, we believe, as 
true as the needle to the pole. We cannot say that 
there are seven thousand in the field, public preachers, 
but we are astonished wherever we go to find such 
numbers of them, and to find their firmness and deter- 
mination in the faith ; and to learn, too, of the sacri- 
fices they are making and the additional sacrifices they 
are determined and willing to make. They are many 
of them living almost as economically as we did thirty 
years ago, in our incipient work of opening the way. 

When the British general found General Marion liv- 
ing on roots, and his men flgliting without pay, he 
admitted that the prospect of overcoming such men 
was gloomy. So, when our opposers see the glorious 
army of which we speak, of faithful young men strug- 
gling with only a half support, and, in some instances, 
not that, and behold the love for the gospel, the Lord 
Jesus and their fellow-men that impels them on ; and 
when they witness [heir determination, zeal and energy; 
that they cannot be discouraged, disheartened and 
turned back, they give up all idea of ever conquering 
them or withstanding them. Let not one word we are 
saying be construed into an excuse for any Christian 
who has the ability not sustaining these precious men 
whom God has raised and put into the field. JSTor need 
any one wait for a " plan," nor an " organization," or 
" system." Plans, organizations and systems give no 
money. Men and women must give the money, if it is 
given at all. ~No man who has the means, and refuses 
to do his part, according to the ability God has given, 
to aid in this glorious work, need flatter himself that 



6 BOOK OF GEMS. 

he will be a partaker in the final reward. According 
as a man sows shall he also reap. We know that there 
are hard-hearted and sordid men in the church, that 
do nothing of consequence, and men of this sort that 
will never be any better. They have but one idea in- 
grained and imprinted on their entire being, and that 
is to hang on with a grasp like death itself to the goods 
of this world. But the good and the true, the men of 
faith, and love, and zeal ; the men who have their eye 
on a kingdom not of this world, and who are devoted 
to saving men and women from ruin, will not stop for 
these, nor brood over them, but turn away from them 
as they do from other abandoned characters who are 
past feeling, and go on with their glorious work. God 
will be with them, and, though poor in this world, they 
will be rich in faith, and the Lord will hold them up. 

But what has this great army of young preachers 
to do ? Where is their work ? There is work enough 
for them to do. The only fear we have is, that when 
they look and see the vastness of the work, they will 
think, like one of old, " There be more against us 
than for us." We have a vast amount of worldlinesa 
and carnality to drive out of the Church ; conformity 
to the world ; love of pleasure more than love of God ; 
the love of Christ to restore ; the gospel and the true 
worship. Where the cause has gone back, it must be 
recovered ; where the gospel has been lost and super- 
seded by something else, it must be restored, and 
where the worship has been corrupted, it must be 
purified, and the right way of the Lord established. 
Men who do not love the gospel, the worship and the 
things of God, will slough off when everything is 
driven out that did not come from God; when the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 7 

only tilings they loved are taken away. In a few in- 
stances entire congregations may be carried away 
with worldly policies and appliances ; but the whole 
number thus lost will amonnt to but little, compared 
with the grand throng that will stand together for the 
faith once delivered to the saints, and that will go on. 
What remains for good men to do is, to go on ; stand 
fast ; be strong in the Lord and in the power of his 
might ; put on the whole armor of God and fight the 
good fight of faith, and stand to the Bible and noth- 
ing else, and thus make the Bible a grand power in 
the earth. "We have started with our Bible, and let 
us go on with it and carry it through the world. We 
have a book that nobody denies, except out and out 
skeptics, and one of supreme authority. Let us 
assert and maintain its authority, and carry it through 
the world. All the other books that in any way rival 
it, or are in anywise in the way of it, must be set 
aside and rendered a dead letter. There is not one 
particle of divine authority in anything that did not 
come out of the Bible. We must push all other books 
aside. 

All the names not applied to the people and Church 
of God in the Scriptures must be repudiated and dis- 
carded, and we must determine to speak of the 
people and Church of God in the language of Scrip- 
ture. This we can do; to this, no child of God can 
reasonably object. There will be no difficulty in this, 
when we shall have no other kind of people or Church 
but the people and Church of God. While we have 
other kinds of people and churches, we shall need 
other names for them. But we shall have no trouble 
about this, for they will select and give themselves 



8 BOOK OP GEMS. 

other names, such as they think fitting and appro- 
priate. All we have to do in the matter is to call 
them by the names they give themselves. If they 
will not permit the Lord to name them, but will call 
themselves by some name not given to the Lord's 
people in the Bible, it is their own doing, not ours. 
There is no reason why the Lord's people should fol- 
low their example, and not accept the designations 
found in Scripture, and use them exclusively. If we 
are the Lord's people, we can be spoken of in the lan- 
guage of Scripture ; if we are not, then we might 
have some other name. 



-•-*--♦•- 



THE WORK OF CREATION. 




FTER Moses states the wonderful fact that " In 
the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth," without stating when it was, only that it 
was " in the beginning," he proceeds to give a brief 
account of the state of things after this first fact, and 
before the work of the six days. He says : " The 
earth was without form, and void, and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep." This state of things was 
preceded by the creation of the heaven and the earth. 
The next thing in the successive acts was to operate 
on material created, brought into existence ; to form 
or fashion it. What was the first thing ? " The Spirit 
of God moved upon the face of the waters." This 



BOOK OF GEMS. 9 

was not bringing into existence, but operating on that 
which, was in existence. " And God said, Let there he 
light : and there was light. And God saw the light, 
that it was good : and God divided the light from the 
darkness. And God called the light Day, and the 
darkness he called Night. And the evening and the 
morning were the first day." Here we have the work 
of the first day. What was done on that day was not 
the same, no matter how we describe it, as the first 
act. It was forming, shaping, operating on material 
previously brought into existence. 

Moses proceeds, " And God said, Let there be a fir- 
mament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide 
the waters from the waters. And God made the firma- 
ment, and divided the waters which were under the 
firmament from the waters which were above the fir- 
mament : and it was so. And he called the firmament 
Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the 
second day." Here we have the work of the second 
day, like that of the first day, forming, fashioning and 
bringing order out of chaos. This " firmament," that 
God made, and " called Heaven," is not the same as 
mentioned in the first verse, but is included in the 
words : " The heavens and the earth." This is the 
work of arrangement, ordering, etc. 

Then follow the gathering together the waters into 
one place, and the bringing to view the dry land, the 
naming of the dry land, Earth, and the gathering to- 
gether of the waters of the seas ; the ordering of the 
grass, the herb, the fruit-tree upon the earth. This 
was the work of the third day. Then comes the order- 
ing the heavenly bodies, the great lights for day and 
night, the dividing the light from the darkness, etc., 



10 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the work of the fourth day. All this is fashioning, 
forming, arranging, ordering, and not creating from 
nothing. Then follows the ordering of the waters, to 
bring forth the fishes, the fowl, and all the inhabitants 
of the seas on the fifth day. This is followed by the or- 
dering the earth to bring forth the cattle, the creeping 
thing, and all the lower orders of the inhabitants of 
the earth, and concludes the work of the sixth day by 
the creation of man, or forming him in the image of 
God. 

We have both the words " made," and " created," 
used and applied to this work of the six days, where 
it is manifestly used in the sense of shaping, forming, 
fashioning, ordering, arranging, and not in the sense 
of the word " created " in the first sentence in the 
Bible, where it manifestly means creating from noth- 
ing or bringing into existence. This wonderful act of 
the Infinite One, of bringing into existence the heaven 
and the earth — this stupendous universe — may have 
been performed an indefinite period of time before the 
commencement of the work of the six days described 
by Moses. In this view there is no danger. It makes the 
work of the Creator none the less wonderful, glorious 
and overwhelming. It matters not how long before 
the work of the six days it was that " God created the 
heaven and the earth," or brought the universe into 
existence. Nor need we be startled at this. The work 
of the six days, as described by Moses, is wonderful 
beyond all human imagination. We can comprehend 
but little of it. We may well exclaim, as Paul did, 
in view of a different matter: "' the depth of the 
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways 



BOOK OF GEMS. 11 

past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of 
the Lord ? or who hath been his counselor ? For of 
him, and through him, are all things ; to whom "be 
glory forever. Amen." 



LOTTERIES. 



'HE entire lottery scheme is gambling. The de- 
sire and intention in lotteries is to get money by 
a base method, or, in other words, dishonestly. 
The desire and intention is to get money without ren- 
dering an equivalent, or to get something for nothing. 
The man or company that conducts a lottery knows 
the precise per cent, that is made in selling out the 
tickets. If everything is conducted fairly ; that is, 
what they call fairly ; that is, to conduct according to 
their proposed rule, some few would draw prizes of 
much value and some larger number will draw small 
prizes, while the great body of them will draAV noth- 
ing. They simply give their money to make up the 
prizes that others draw, and make a fine purse to run 
the establishment. Think of the following : 

1. We do not profess to know, but probably if the 
green ones that buy lottery tickets would pay $100,000 
for tickets, all the prizes they would all draw would 
not amount to more than $66,000, thus leaving $34,000 
in the concern. This is swindle No. 1, to the tune of 
$34,000 ! 



12 BOOK OF GEMS. 

2. There can be but very few who can draw prizes 
of any considerable value, for there are but few of 
that kind in the concern. The purchasers of lottery 
tickets would be astonished to know how few could 
possibly draw a prize to the amount of $1,000, if 
enough would draw tickets to pay in $100,000. 

3. They- would be still more astonished to know 
how few can draw even small prizes, and most of all 
astonished to know how few can draw anything. 

4. The concern proceeds on a principle of dishon- 
esty on both sides — the principle of getting something 
for nothing. The man that studies how to do this, 
and tries to accomplish it, studies dishonesty and 
how to practice it. In its very nature it is corrupting, 
and must end in degrading a man. Young men ought 
to shun it as they would a viper. 



NO PREACHERS ON DANCING, ETC. 




O man goes through the country delivering able 
and finely -prepared discourses advocating danc- 
ing, going to theatres, playing innocent games 
for amusement, etc., etc. These things, like the weeds 
in the garden, need no advocates, but come themselves, 
and that, too, in opposition to all moral feeling, re- 
straints and entreaties. They are not cultivated fruit, 
but the spontaneous growth that must be removed be- 
fore we can have the precious fruits of the Spirit. 
They are the fruits of the flesh, of the carnal mind. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 13 

The man who builds up churches, maintains the spirit- 
ual devotions, order, purity, discipline, elevates and 
ennobles humanity, must work ; war against the flesh 
and all the works of the flesh ; cultivate, be faithful 
and watchful. He has something to do more than to 
inquire, what harm is it ? 

The Romish Church has reached the climax in the 
easy system. She makes her members chiefly of in- 
fants before they can make any successful resistance, 
and then never excludes except for heresy. In this 
way she has grown up to the enormous number of 
about two hundred million, or one-sixth of the inhab- 
itants of the world. Dancing, drunkenness, or any 
other works of the flesh except heresy forfeit no 
membership in that carnal body. We do not want 
to go back toward that body. 

There are more than seven thousand or seven times 
seven thousand, remaining, who have not consented to 
any departure, who are to-day as determined for the 
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as A. 
Campbell was in the best days of the Christian Bap- 
tist, and the man who talks to them about any new 
departure under the name of progression, or any other 
name, is not only idling away his time and talent, but 
letting himself down in their estimation from the faith 
to sectarianism. They estimate a man, not by his 
learning, his talent or money, but by his love to the 
Lord Jesus the Christ. They judge of this love by his 
integrity to the Lord, as seen in a strict adherence to 
the gospel, the teaching of the Lord and his apostles ; 
his example ; his appointed worship ; all he said and 
did ; his devotion to the Lord in all respects ; a settled 
and determined adherence to him in all things. 



14 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Men may turn away from him, and some will, a3 
some did nnder the eyes of the apostles. Whole 
churches will turn away and go to nothing, and the 
names of some men will stand ingloriously connected 
with these ruins. The first churches the Lord estab- 
lished have long since been buried in ruins, but the 
men who spread the desolation will not be overlooked 
in the eternal judgment. They will there receive their 
last notoriety. The Lord has not raised the build- 
ing now standing on the rock, in vain, but to stand 
the pillar and support of the truth. The main body 
understand that they have entered into covenant with 
God, and that they are bound by all the honor that 
is in them to maintain every inch of ground they 
have gained. There is, we believe, salt enough in this 
body to preserve it. It has the power and Spirit of 
God in it ; and God will hold it up and perpetuate it 
when men who have it not will be forgotten. By the 
grace of God it will stand till the Lord comes. Let 
us labor to " present it to him a glorious church, with- 
out spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." 



BOOK OE GEMS. 15 



HARDENING PHARAOH'S HEART. 



fjr'HERE are two senses in which things are ascribed 
to God. 1. When he does things directly, as in 
the work of creation. 2. When he permits 
things to be done. In this latter sense G-od raised up 
and hardened Pharaoh. It is simply in the sense of 
permission — permitted him to rise up and be hard- 
ened. The hardening is also ascribed to Pharaoh. 
He hardened himself. This was the direct act. He 
did it. When the holy writer is looking at the provi- 
dence of God, in permitting him to rise up into power, 
and assigning a reason for it, the explanation is made, 
that it was done to make known his power in all the 
earth. This is the sense in which God raises np 
kings and other rulers, that are bad, and uses them as 
vessels fitted for destruction. He permits them to rule 
and rule badly, do wickedly ; oppress the people, as 
vessels of dishonor and wrath, making them exam- 
ples to all the earth, in their overthrow and utter ruin, 
to teach other rulers and the people that they are all 
in the hands of the Lord. 

The judgments of God have two different results on 
men, either, on the one hand, to subdue the heart and 
lead to repentance, or to harden the heart and lead to 
greater deeds of cruelty and oppression. When the 
holy writer speaks of it, in view of the case where 
men are hardened and become worse by it, he says, 
God hardened them. In the other case, where they 



16 BOOK OF GEMS. 

are subdued and led to repentance "by it, he says, 
God makes them " vessels of mercy," leads them to 
repentance and saves them. The dealings of God are 
precisely alike in both cases, but the result is different. 
In one case it is a savor of life, in the other of death. 
The difference is not in the divine treatment, but in 
the patients. The one becomes a vessel of wrath, and 
the other a vessel of mercy. God is said to save the 
one and harden the other, because we have the two 
results from the same treatment. In that sense it is 
from God and ascribed to him, in both the hardening 
and saving. See the following : 

" At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation 
and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull 
down, and to destroy it ; if that nation, against whom 
I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent 
of the evil I thought to them." See Jer. xviii. 7, 8. 
This assures us, that where a nation or a kingdom 
repent, the Lord turns away the threatened calamity. 
The Lord then states the case for a nation that shall 
turn away from the Lord : 

" At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, 
and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it ; 
if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, 
then will I repent of the good, wherewith I said I 
would benefit them." See Jer. xviii. 9, 10. This sets 
forth the foundation of making vessels of honor and 
of wrath. God can make either the one, or the other. 
The ground of Jiis doing this is their doing good and 
doing evil. 

When God sent a j ndgment on Pharaoh, to subdue 
him and lead him to repentance, he promised to repent 
and let the children of Israel go ; but then hardened 



BOOK OF GEMS. 17 

his heart, broke his promise and refused to let them 
go. This was repeated ten times on him, and every 
time he "broke his promise and he became still more 
hardened, and God permitted him thus to go on till 
his overthrow, thus making the power of God known 
in all the earth, and making the hardened monarch 
of Egj^pt an example to all the nations to follow. No 
doubt God hardens men now in the same sense as he 
did Pharaoh, subdues and leads others to repentance 
as he did the Ninevites, who repented at the preach- 
ing of Jonah. 



«»• ^i 



OUR CENSUS. 



pN an age when people compare themselves with 
their neighbors, look at the comparative size of 
their hymn books, the size, splendor and elegance 
of the temples in which they meet, the amount of 
money they raise, their church organs, festivals, 
choirs, popular preachers and numerical strength, the 
census is looked to with great concern; but where 
people are greatly devoted to the Lord, diligently 
striving to please him and be accepted of him in the 
great day, they are led to think of the piety of the 
people, their purity, their culture; their faith, and 
hope and love ; their efforts to save men and build up 
the kingdom of God, and not to be troubled seriously 
about how they shall appear in the census. We are 



18 BOOK OF GEMS. 

vastly more concerned about maintaining the purity 
of the gospel, the faithfulness of the preaching, the 
discipline and order of the church, the pure worship 
as prescribed in the law of God, than we are about 
the census. We are more concerned about how we 
appear before the Lord than we are how we appear 
before man. 

We are perfectly contented and satisfied with the 
things of God as set forth in Scripture. We are con- 
tented and satisfied with the very words and forms of 
speech in which God speaks to man. We love the 
lowliness, simplicity and humility of Jesus. It is the 
manifestation of infinite wisdom and goodness. The 
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. " The 
Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are 
vain." He takes the wise in their own craftiness. 



TRUE MISSIONARIES. 



'HE early members in our great movement in this 
country were nearly all preachers. They read 
the Scriptures to and talked with their neighbors, 
explained matters to them, and, in many instances, 
when the preacher came they were already convinced 
and ready for baptism ; or, if they had been baptized 
ready for uniting on the Bible. This accounts for cur 
having such large success by preaching a few dis- 
courses. Much of the preaching was done before the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 19 

preacher came, by private members and in private 
circles. These were missionary people in the true 
sense. They were in the work all the time. They 
did not need games of amusement for pastime. They 
had no time to spare. They were all busy, and all 
alive and at work. The love and spirit of God were 
in them, and the divine influence was shed all round. 
They did not have a little missionary spasm, pray a 
week for the spread of the gospel, give a few dollars 
and do no more for three months or a year, but they 
prayed for the spread of the gospel all the time ; kept 
at the work of spreading it ^11 the time. They had no 
trouble about plans, but kept at the work, and spread 
the gospel. It can be spread in the same way again, 
and is being thus spread largely now wherever it is 
spread at all. If we honestly desire to spread the gos- 
pel of the grace of God, to turn sinners to the Lord, 
free them from the manacles of sin and death, and save 
them, let us go to work and do it. There is nothing to 
hinder us, if we have the faith and love and zeal, from 
carrying it forward to any extent. The people are 
weary of sectarianism, and ready to hear something 
intelligible on the way of salvation. 



20 BOOK OF GEMS. 



NO DEPARTURE FROM THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. 



pF we are to depart from the Jerusalem Church be- 
cause it was in its infancy, and not reproduce the 
primitive church, we should like to know how far 
we are to depart from it, and in what. If the faith and 
practice, the precept and example of the primitive 
church may not be adopted now and followed ; if in 
all things we should not now have the same faith and 
practice, precept and example they had, we should be 
pleased for some expounder of the new doctrine to 
explain to us in what the departure shall consist, and 
what rule we are to adopt now. If we let go of the 
rule that governed the first church, what rule shall we 
adopt ? If we cut loose from the divine, shall we adopt 
a human rule ? If s*o, what human rule ? Some one of 
these already made ? or shall we have the presumption 
and folly to think we can make a better one than these 
human rules already in use ? 

We are not ready to cut loose from the Jerusalem 
Church, its rule of faith and practice, its precept and 
example. We have more confidence in the old ground 
than ever, and have no idea of departing from the 
Jerusalem Church, its faith and practice, precepts and 
example. The men that will not stand on apostolic 
ground, the faith and practice of the first church, will 
not stand on anything long. We want something reli- 
able, permanent, sure and steadfast — a kingdom that 
cannot be moved. In the old Bible, the old gospel and 



BOOK OF GEMS. 21 

the old church, we find it. Here is something to lean 
upon riving and dying, for this world and the world to 
come. If we leave this, all is uncertainty, darkness 
and night. Let us "hear what the Spirit says to 
the churches," and not be of those who " depart from 
the faith," giving heed to seducing spirits, and not listen 
to "unstable souls," or those "ever learning and never 
able to the knowledge of the truth." 



e»» ■«< 



BORN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT. 



'HERE is but one birth mentioned or alluded to in 
the conversation with Mcodemus. 

There is but one kingdom mentioned or alluded 
to in the conversation. 

The conversation is about one birth and entering 
into one kingdom. The whole is in the phrase, " You 
must be born again," or the previous phrase, " Except 
a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of 
God." This figurative expression "born again," is 
precisely the same, or includes the same as conversion. 
A man born again is a man converted. In being born 
again precisely the same agencies are employed, and 
the same thing is accomplished as when a man is con- 
verted. This is literally a man turned from darkness 
to light, from the world to God. This is not done by 
the agency of water without the agency of the Spirit. 
There is no such thing as a birth of water without the 



22 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Spirit. A man is " born again," not by water withont 
the Spirit, nor by the Spirit withont the water, bnt 
"born of water and of the Spirit," no matter how 
many fine theories are spoiled. Nothing leads to 
more nseless theories and specnlations than attempts 
to bnild a theory on a figurative expression. The 
literal mnst always explain the figurative. The clear 
and unfigurative language of the commission has pre- 
cisely the same in it as the phrase, " born of water 
and of the Spirit." "He who believes and is im- 
mersed shall be saved." Believes, in this passage, is 
literal. Born of the Spirit, or, which is the same, 
" begotten of the Spirit," is figurative. The meaning 
is the same as, " I have begotten you by the gospel," 
or made you believers by the gospel. Begotten of 
God is made a believer of God. Begotten of the 
Spirit is made a believer by the Spirit. It is in some 
instances ascribed to God in view of his being the 
Author of it. It is ascribed to Christ in view of it 
being through his mediation. It is ascribed to the 
Spirit in view of his inspiring the apostles or speaking 
in them, and thus making believers, and those thus 
made believers are said to be begotten of the Spirit, 
and, when immersed, said to be " born of water and 
of the Spirit." This is precisely all there is in it. 

There is nothing about the resurrection in it, the first 
resurection or any other resurrection, unless it be a 
resurrection to a new life. Nor is anything in the res- 
urrection ever called " a birth of the Spirit." We are 
perfectly aware that the dead will be quickened by 
the Spirit, and that the Spirit of Christ will quicken 
their mortal bodies : that Christ was the " first-born 
from the dead," the " first-born among many brethren," 



BOOK OF GEMS. £3 

and that the dead will Ibe raised at the sound of the 
trumpet, "but there is not one word about all this or 
an allusion to it in the conversation with Mcodemus. 
Nor is there one word about or allusion to the ever- 
lasting kingdom in that conversation. We must not 
make something out of that conversation that is not 
in it. 

Mcodemus was standing, on his birth-right, " born 
in thy house," as expressed Gen. xvii. 13, for member- 
ship. The Lord sweeps this away in one sentence: 
" Except a man be born again he can not se,e the king- 
dom of God." His being born in the house or family 
of Abraham availed nothing. " Flesh and blood can 
not inherit the kingdom of God." ~No matter in 
whose family he was born nor whose blood coursed 
in his veins, a man must be born again, born from 
above, born of water and of the Spirit, or he cannot 
enjoy the kingdom of God. As the Spirit is the agent 
through whom the gospel is preached, and the gospel 
the instrument by which the Spirit makes believers, 
the agent is mentioned for the effect, which is belief — 
made believers by the Spirit and baptized into Christ, 
into one body. It is of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, 
of the apostles and by the word. 

There is no such thing as the new birth without the 
Spirit, nor any such thing as entering into the king- 
dom of God or the body of Christ. The faith, the 
work of the Spirit in preaching the gospel, through 
the apostles, and baptism, or, figuratively, " born of 
water," must be present. The man who believes the 
gospel with all his heart and is immersed into Christ 
is " born of water and of the Spirit " in the sense in- 
tended by the Savior. 



24 BOOK OF GEMS. 



A HIGHER MORALITY REQUIRED. 




E need a higher morality, a more pure and 
unadulterated piety and greater simplicity of 
^ benevolence. We do not want money extracted 
from the pockets of the people by the Church offering 
them sensual gratification, amusements and entertain- 
ments, to say nothing of the ball, the lottery and 
other gambling. Let us in the name of the Lord and 
of religion, in a manly way, come directly to the 
people for means to support religion and ask them to 
give from love to Christ, and no matter if we do not 
obtain one-fourth the amount it will do ten times as 
much good. The Lord needs no money made by 
lotteries, gambling, fairs, festivals, or any such 
appeals to the lust of the flesh, the human appetite, 
the love of fine companies, etc. He needs no money 
only that given to him through love and devotion to 
his cause. Those who appeal to entertainments, 
amusements, fine companies of men and women, the 
dance, lotteries, festivals, fairs, etc., etc., thus publish 
to the world their impression that there is more 
potency in these worldly and secular appliances than 
there is in the grace of God and the love of Christ, 
and we doub.t not they find it to to be so, in raising 
money in their assemblies. They have tried it and 
demonstrated it to be so. We care not if it be so ; 
we care not if it has been demonstrated that the 
people will give more money for a monkey show than 



book of gems. £5 

for the kingdom of God; we will not resort to the 
monkey show ; nor do we care if they will give more 
money for revelling than for the holy cause for which 
Jesus died ; we will not resort to the revelling. There 
are other matters aside from the question, how much 
money can we raise, that must be kept in view. 

We must maintain our piety, devotion to the Lord, 
purity, and must not be conformed to this world, but 
transformed by the renewing of our mind. "We have 
never consented to this modern element that will 
appeal to anything and everything that will raise 
money. It is not Godliness, nor the love of God, but 
sensual ; it is devilish. Come directly to the children 
of God in the name of the Lord and appeal to them 
for his sake to give, to give freely and of a willing 
mind ; that " it is more blessed to give than to receive," 
and appreciate what is given in his name. 



• » » •*• 



POIMEEN-SHEPHERD-EVANGELIST-OVERSEER. 

fc^E will not go back to the Old Testament to find 
any office or officer in the kingdom of Christ. 
^ What currency, then, has the word "pastor" 
in the New Testament ? The word is in the New Tes- 
tament, in some translations, in one place. That is its 
entire currency in the new and everlasting covenant. 
But then the word " Easter " is found in one place in 
the common version. Is that authority for Easter? 



26 £00K OP GEMS. 

If it is in the New Testament in one place, rightfully, 
it is authority as much as if it were in fifty places. 
But how does it happen to be there in one place f If 
the translators had, in that one place, given us pass- 
over, as they have done in every other instance to 
represent the same original, we should have had no 
Easter in the New Testament. In the same way, if 
the translators had given us the word shepherds, Eph. 
iv. 11, as they have done in every other case to repre- 
sent the same original word, we should have had no 
pastor in the New Testament. On this one variation 
from the rule, to translate poimeen, shepherd, hangs 
the " pastorate," so called, the office for the pastor, and 
we might add, all the " installations," etc. Probably 
it is Dr. Watts that exclaims, with other matters 
before him : a Great God 1 on what a brittle thread 
hangs eternal things !" On what a slender prop hangs 
the pastorate! Still, on this platform the pastors 
stand. 

In one place and only one, in some translations, the 
original word for shepherd, and so translated in every 
other place in the New Testament, is translated pas- 
tors. When the common version appeared, King 
James issued a proclamation commanding the trans- 
lation to be read as the word of God. If we obey 
this command we must read the Latin word pastor as 
the word of God, though the same translators give us 
shepherd as the English representative of the original 
word poimeen in every other occurrence of it in the 
New Testament. In this way we get divine authority 
in the word of God, and human authority from King 
James, not only for the unscriptural pastorate in the 
Church of England, but the equally unscriptural pas- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 27 

torate now trying to grow np among us, first under 
one plausalble pretext and then under another. 

Why translate poimeen, shepherd, in every other 
place, and cover up the word shepherd with the Latin 
word pastor in one place ? Whatever idea the Lord 
and the apostles intended to convey in this matter, 
they deemed the one word sufficient. What reason 
can any man give for representing the original word 
poimeen by the word shepherd in every instance but 
one, and there using the Latin word pastor f Rome 
loves Latin. It is not the vulgar tongue. What rea- 
son is there for departing from the otherwise invariable 
rule and giving us pastor ', Eph. iv. 11 ? W^hy not give 
us " Chief-Pastor," or " Arch-Pastor," and not " Chief- 
Shepherd?" Why not style the Lord "the Pastor of 
the sheep," and not " Shepherd of the sheep ?" Pastor 
would not read well as the correlative of sheep. We 
hear sermons on the offices of our Lord, as King, 
Priest, Prophet. Why not have a sermon on his office 
as Pastor f Then we might have a sermon on the 
office of the church as a flock, or the office of the mem- 
bers as sheep. Could we not say flocks office, sheep's 
office ? The Lord has no such office as shepherd, or, 
in Latin, pastor. There is no such office as pastorate, 
nor officer as pastor. There is not one word in the 
New Covenant about the qualifications of a pastor, 
the election of one, the calling of one, or the installa- 
tion of one. As the correlative of the word flock, 
when the church is figuratively called flock, the Lord 
who cares for the flock and has the oversight of it is 
figuratively called Shepherd, or, when the followers of 
the Lord are figuratively called sheep, the Lord is 
figuratively called " the Shepherd of the sheep." 



28 BOOK OF GEMS. 

When the Lord is called "the Chief -Shepherd," or 
" Arch- Shepherd," the church is in view as the flock of 
which he is Shepherd, and the overseers in the church 
are under shepherds, but there is no shepherd's office, 
nor floctfs office. The bishops or overseers are as 
certainly bishops or overseers, when figuratively called 
shepherds, as if literally called overseers. JSTo other 
office or work is meant. 

Coming now to the practical matter, we desire Bible 
things and Bible names for them. We desire to pre- 
serve the church and everything in it as the Lord gave 
it. We desire, in the matter in hand, to prevent the 
creation of any new office in the church. There is 
nothing new or unscriptural in the idea of an overseer 
who devotes himself wholly to the word and teaching. 
There may be other overseers who do not give them- 
selves wholly to the word and teaching. Then there is 
nothing unscriptural in an evangelist remaining with a 
church one, two or more years, to set in order things 
that are wanting, assist in qualifying the church to 
take care of itself, and preach the gospel to the com- 
munity. In this capacity he is not a church officer at 
all, but doing the work of an evangelist. He is not 
with the church to " perform divine service " for it, to 
lord it over it, or as a ruler, nor permanently, but 
assisting the church in her infancy and enabling her to 
take care of herself. 

Every preacher connected with any church is labor- 
ing in one of these two senses : as an overseer who 
labors in the word and teaching, or as an evangelist. 
In the former capacity he may be there permanently. 
In the latter capacity he is not there permanently, but 
setting in order the things wanting, with a view to 



BOOK OF GEMS. 29 

qualifying themselves to every good word and work ; 
to instruct and edify one another in love, hut intending 
to go on to another place as soon as he has finished his 
work where he is. But the overseer who labors in the 
word and teaching is not to assume any airs of author- 
ity, or any great cliair with his subordinates on more 
humble seats by his side. We abominate all these 
great chairs, pulpits and preferences for public men. 
If they are good men they do not want them, and if 
they are bad men they certainly should not be hon- 
ored with them. Really great and good men are plain 
men — want no great chair nor great titles. They need 
no priestly robes, clerical coats nor titles. They make 
a record that tells the story for them. They do the 
work. Let us do the work, seek the simplicity of 
Jesus and the humility of children. While we sing, 
" Nearer, my God, to thee," let us strive to live nearer 
to God and do our utmost to excel in understanding 
and practicing precisely what the Lord has laid before 
us in the Scriptures. 



30 BOOK OF GEMS. 



CALL NO MAN REVEREND. 



I 



E will call no man Reverend. We make this a 
matter of conscience. There is no more reason 
^ or gospel for addressing a preacher differently 
from other men than there is for a preacher to be 
attired differently. If a man is not preacher enongh 
to be known as a preacher, withont the white necktie 
or the priestly coat, let him pass withont being known. 
We like to treat a preacher, or even a Roman priest, 
with common civility, but we do all that when we 
treat him as any other gentleman. We want no 
preacher's garb nor titles, and will recognize none of 
them. Many have those who have never been " born 
again;" who are not in the kingdom of God — not 
Christians. 



•> <• 



PREACHER DID NOT SUIT. 




m E mnst say a few things in the way of generals 
before we come to particulars. We visited a 
^ church some years since, and there was quite a 
general impression among the members that their 
preacher did not suit them — that he was not "the 
right man in the right place," etc. Many fine things 
were said, as to the kind of a man they needed, etc., 



BOOK OF GEMS. 31 

and the idea prevailed that they had better turn their 
preacher off and get another. We suggested to them 
in a circle one day that possibly they had not at all 
discovered the real malady; that possibly the main 
difficulty was not at all in reference to the kind of a 
preacher they needed, but to the kind of a church 
they needed; that possibly the change they needed 
could be effected by turning off the church and get- 
ting another and a tetter one. 



-♦-»■ ■+• 



THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 




IjI E need a vast amount of instruction in regard to 
both the Old Testament and the New, not only 
^f in the sunday-school, but in the church, the 
family, and to individuals. We need some thorough 
work in this matter. Much of what is now passing 
for teaching both the Old Testament and New is 
in no proper sense teaching either the Old or New 
Testament. The general idea is, that the Old Testa- 
ment embraces all the sacred writings or the books of 
the Bible, beginning with Genesis and ending with 
Malachi, and that the New Testament embraces all 
the sacred writings or books of the Bible, beginning 
with Mathew and ending with Revelation. Such is 
the sense in which these terms are now used. When 
it is said, the Old Testament is abolished, the idea 
generally received is that all the sacred writings, or 



32 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the books of the Bible, from the beginning of Genesis 
to the end of Malachi, are set aside, of no nse, and 
not to be studied. This is a very superficial view, 
and one that in no sense comprehends the matter. 

The word "testament" means covenant, and the 
Old Testament is simply in the Bible sense the Old 
Covenant. This was made with the seed of Abraham, 
or fleshly Israel, and includes what Paul calls " the 
law.' This is what he calls " our pedagogue to bring 
us to Christ." It is not " school-master " as the com- 
mon version has it, but pedagogue. His office was 
different from that of school-teacher. It was to take 
charge of the children from the time they started from 
their homes till they reached the school-room and put 
under the teacher. This was the office of the law of 
Moses, to take charge of the seed of Abraham, Israel 
according to the flesh, and bring them to Christ the 
School-teacher. Paul does not say, as some quote 
him, " The law is our school-master to bring us to 
Christ, but being a Jew, and speaking as such, he 
says, " The law was our pedagogue to bring us to 
Christ," the School-teacher. This law, containing a 
full development of all that was in the covenant with 
the seed of Abraham, or fleshly Israel, is what was 
abolished, had waxed old, and was ready to vanish 
away in Paul's day. This most certainly did not include 
the history in the five books of Moses, or any other 
history in the Old Book, commonly called the " Old 
Testament," the book of Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, 
or the Prophecies. None of these are abolished, Ibut 
are all of as much value to those under Christ, and as 
legitimate books for study, as they ever were to any 
people in any age of the world. They are not in- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 33 

eluded in the law, or the covenant, or in what was 
abolished, but have a relation to the gospel, to those 
in the kingdom of Christ, and are of immense value. 

By making ourselves well acquainted with the 
sacked writings, the dealings of God with man, and 
the portions of revelation given in various manners 
and at sundry times, we can see as we can in nature 
now that we have revelation through which to read it, 
that there was one Divine Mind before the beginning 
of time that looked down through the ages, and by 
the agency of men that did not understand him, car- 
ried out his wise and gracious counsels according to 
his eternal purpose. Going back to the early sacred 
writings found in the Old Book we look down through 
these writings to Christ, the kingdom of God, the 
gospel, as one looking through a telescope at objects 
in the distance ; but, standing at the other end of rev- 
elation, we look up through the New Book containing 
the revelations given at later periods to the persons 
and events of the Old Book, as one who turns the 
telescope the other end foremost, and bring Moses and 
the prophets down near to us. 

Christ is the soul of the Bible, the theme of the 
revelation from God to man. Turn the portions of 
revelation given at early periods, next to the eye and 
look down through the Bible, and through the ages to 
Christ, and then turn the last part of revelation to the 
eye, and look up through it to Christ, and we thus 
find that it all centers in Him " who is Head over all 
things to the church." 

It is not right in the church, family, or anywhere, to 
teach the Old Scriptures exclusively, or the New, but 
teach doth, in their relation to each other. The New 



34 BOOK OF GEMS. 

can not be thoroughly and successfully studied with- 
out the Old, nor the Old without the New. 

The popular custom of memorizing and repeating 
verses in view of prizes to the most successful, or the 
study and answer of such questions, as who was the 
first man, who was the oldest man, who was the 
meekest man, etc., gives us no understanding of the 
Scriptures. Much of this is a mere exercise of the 
memory, and there is nothing in it to make a pious 
impression, or give any comprehension of the mind of 
God. It appears at times wonderful how many things 
can be taught, and correctly enough too, about the 
Bible, and at the same time keep out of view entirely 
the divine purpose, the very import and intention of 
the wonderful book professedly taught. The eternal 
purpose of God, running through the Bible from side 
to side, as it does through the works of nature, should 
be taught and kept in view, not to find any definite 
number that will certainly be saved or lost, but to 
find the Lord's Anointed, his gospel and kingdom ; a 
revelation of the mystery, an unfolding of the secret 
hid in God from before the beginning of time, but 
now made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the 
prophets, according to the commandment of the ever- 
lasting God made known to all nations for the obedi- 
ence of faith. 



Book of Gems. 35 



WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY. 



J^ O matter how many go the wrong way, nor how 
popnlar they are, nor how mnch money they 
y have, the Lord is able to bring them to judg- 
ment, and he will most certainly do it. When the 
people went away from the temple and abandoned 
him, and only a few disciples remained with him, and 
he inquired of them : " Will you also go away ? " the 
prospect looked dim, but the Lord did not change his 
course. When he expired on the cross the enemies 
exulted and triumphed; but their triumph did not 
last long. " He was quickened by the Spirit." God 
raised him up. "H& was justified by the Spirit." 
The armies in heaven were with him. The upper 
world was in motion. God vindicated him, as he did 
all who will listen to him. When they burned Tyn- 
dale at the stake they thought they had put him 
down ; but, while the names of his persecutors have, 
with few exceptions, gone into oblivion, the name of 
Tyndale is held in esteem by all good men. The 
name of Luther will live to the end of time, while the 
time-servers who opposed him are rapidly sinking 
into forgetfulness. The man that leads the people to 
God, to the Lord Jesus, by the gospel, and maintains 
the will of God, will abide forever; while the man 
that tries to catch the giddy throng with a little show 
of some human devices, and who may attract their 
attention for a time, will pass away and be forgotten 
forever. 



36 BOOK OF GEMS. 

We are for progress in the true sense in every de- 
partment, but not for the progress backward. We are 
for the progress in the church that goes forward and 
converts sinners, and "builds up churches ; that infuses 
piety, devotion to Grod and to the right way of the 
Lord; but not for the progress that is nearly all 
money, and almost no work. We are for the progress 
that goes forward and not backward. 



• ► ««• 



THE GROUND OF UNION. 



44^N WHAT are Christians to be united? 

They are to be united on Christ— on being 
Christians. This embraces the entire revelation 
from God to man, all the truth uttered, the command- 
ments given and the promises made by our heavenly 
Father. The truth must all be believed, the com- 
mandments obeyed, and the promises must be hoped 
for. This includes the entire faith, obedience and 
hope of the gospel. In this we must be united. 

II. " What are the essentials of Christianity which 
can not be compromised ? " 

Christianity itself, as a whole and in all its parts, 
is essential. All that is in it is essential, and all that 
is not in it is not essential. We are for Christianity 
itself, not in part, but the whole of it, as it came from 
the infallible Spirit of all wisdom and all revelation. 



BOOK OF GEMS. . 37 

# 

It is all essential. Nothing may Ibe added to it or 
taken from it. The " doctrines and commandments of 
men," the doctrines of " expediency," of " deductions " 
and " inferences," from principles, are not essential ; 
"but these are not Christianity, nor any part of it. 
Nothing in Christianity can be compromised except at 
our peril. The wisdom of God gives us no non-essen- 
tials. If the wisdom of man pronounces anything 
given by the wisdom of God, or, which is the same, 
any part of Christianity, non-essential, such wisdom 
of man must be set aside as presumptuous. 

What an idea for men to sit on the grave question 
of essentials and non-essentials, in the divine institu- 
tion given by our Lord and confirmed by the most 
indubitable signs and wonders ! What part of that 
which has been given by the wisdom of God is essen- 
tial, and what part is not essential ? It is all essential, 
or the wisdom of God would not have given it, and 
the authority of God would not have required it. The 
very circumstance that the infinite wisdom devised it 
and the infinite authority required it makes the whole 
of Christianity binding. There is not a non-essential 
in it. 

m. " How far is diversity to be tolerated ? " 

We are all required to " speak the same thing," to 
" teach no other doctrine," to " preach the word," to 
preach no " other gospel," to teach the things that be- 
come " sound doctrine," and if we " speak not accord- 
ing to his word it is because there is no light in us." 
In one word, we are not to have " all sorts of doctrine 
from all sorts of teachers," but to " earnestly contend 
for the faith once for all delivered to the saints." 

IV. "How shall we reconcile the right of private 



38 BOOK OF GEMS. 

judgment with the right of the Church to maintain the 
faith in its purity, and still preserve the unity of the 
faith which the word of God enjoins?" 

The way we have done it for fifty years past. We 
have had the right of private judgment, and, at the 
same time, maintained the faith in its purity and pre- 
served the unity of the faith as enjoined in Scripture. 
Demonstration is better than theory. We have 
brought the people from all parties, united them in 
the one faith, made them one in the unity of the 
Spirit, with the exception of a few erratic spirits, but 
we have not had more of these than they had in the 
time of the apostles. They and their mission were 
predicted in Scripture, and they have come and ful- 
filled the predictions of the Lord and the apostles 
without intending or knowing it, and thus furnished 
an additional evidence that the Scriptures are divinely 
inspired. 



» ■«•- 



IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON. 



'HEBE are times when general apathy prevails ; 
when it appears impossible to rouse the people 
to anything like an appreciation of the things of 
the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ; 
when the hearts of the people appear to be closed 
against all that can be said or done to save them. 
They frequently hear at such times, act as orderly as 
ever, and show as much respect to the gospel; but 



BOOK OF GEMS. 39 

they do not have the heart and soul in it, and can not 
be moved to action. Their emotional natnre appears 
to be utterly inaccessible. There are again times 
when the hearts of the people are open. They not 
only hear the truth, pay a decent respect to it and 
admire its beauties, but, with joy, they receive it 
into good and honest hearts, believe it to be the salva- 
tion of their souls. It melts them down, fills their 
hearts to overflowing and moves them to obedience. 
This much we know to be fact. We have tried to see 
the cause of this fact, but do not claim that we can 
see the cause, nor do we see any particular impor- 
tance in seeing the cause, but we ought to turn the 
fact to account. How can this be done ? 

Paul has a period, or state of things, that he styles 
" in season," and another that he* styles " out of sea- 
son." There is a time to sow and a time to reap, a 
time to dress the vineyard and a time to gather the 
fruit. These periods, when the hearts of the people 
are open, are the harvest times — the time for gather- 
ing in the ripe grain ready for the harvest — for turn- 
ing sinners to the Lord. No matter about the cause 
of it; there is the opportunity ; and we should be 
ready and go into the harvest and gather precious 
souls into the fold of Christ. A door is now open 
and let no man waste his time about the cause of this 
opening, but while the way is open go up and possess 
the land. Never mind explaining how the Lord 
opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended to the 
words spoken by Paul, nor how the Lord now is 
opening the hearts of the people ; it is enough for the 
man of God to find that the hearts of the people are 
open, and that they will attend to the word of the 



40 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Lord when it is spoken. Go on and speak to them 
the word of the Lord — the words of everlasting life — 
turn them to God and save them. 



»» «i 



EATING THE LORD'S FLESH AND DRINKING 
HIS BLOOD. 



OHN" vi. 48, we find the words of the Lord, " I am 
the bread of life." The Lord adds the remark 
>Jf to the Jews, "Your fathers did eat manna in 
the wilderness, and are dead." It had no power to 
perpetuate life only for a short time ; but he contin- 
ues, verse 50, " This is the bread which comes down 
from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not 
die." It will be noticed that his flesh did not come 
down from heaven, and that bread which came down 
from heaven is that of which if a man shall eat he 
shall not die. Then he follows with the remark, " I 
am the living bread which came down from heaven. 
If any man eat of this bread " (which came down from 
heaven) " he shall live forever ; and the bread that I 
will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of 
the world." Here he uses the flesh, as that which 
they saw and dealt with in crucifying him metonymi- 
cally, or a part for the whole. The Jews, however, 
understood him to mean his flesh literally, and so 
does the Romish church, and the Jews inquired, " How 
can this man give us his flesh to eat ?" The Lord did 
not explain the matter to them ? but added, verse 56, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 41 

"Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and 
drink his Mood, yon have no life in yon." 

They were looking at it in the literal sense, and did 
not see how they conld eat his flesh, or how the eat- 
ing of it conld give life. The doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation had not yet been born, and the idea of the 
bread and wine being changed, in the ceremony of 
consecration, into the real flesh and blood, so that 
they conld eat the flesh and drink his blood in the 
commnnion, had not yet entered into the minds of 
men. Nor did onr Lord mean any snch thing, bnt 
Tie himself, who came down from heaven, is that bread 
of life which if a man shall eat he shall never die. 
But the eating is not literal, any more than the bread 
is literal or the flesh. We partake of that bread, or 
of him who came down from heaven by hearing of 
him, believing on him, and being united with him. In 
becoming his disciples, learning of him and following 
him in all things, we eat or partake of that bread, or 
of him who is the way, and the truth and the life. 

He proceeds, "He who eats my flesh, and drinks 
my blood, has eternal life ; and I will raise him up 
at the last day." See verse 54. He who believes on 
him, receives him, follows him, loves him and obeys 
him, in the sense he intended, eats his flesh and 
drinks his blood ; but not in the communion any 
more than in the other parts of his teaching, or other 
appointments. In coming to Christ, and becoming 
his disciples, we are made partakers of him, of " the 
divine nature," and our salvation is in him. "My 
flesh is food indeed," says he, " and my blood is drink 
indeed. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, 
dwells in me, and I in him." Following him a little 



42 BOOK OF GEMS. 

further on, verse 57, he says, " As the living Father 
has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats 
me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread that 
came down from heaven ; not as your fathers did eat 
manna, and are dead ; he who eats this bread shall 
live forever." See verse 58. The eating is partaking 
of Christ, the bread that came down from heaven ; 
this is done by faith, in receiving, following and obey- 
ing him ; doing his commandments, that we may enter 
by the gates into the city, and have a right to the tree 
of life. 



•*■ •*• 



CHURCH ORGANIZATION. 



& 



^f^EN may talk of the power of those large com- 
binations, governed by a few leading spirits or 
one leading spirit as the case may be, where 
office and not character or ability gives power; but 
while such an arrangement may create in its adherents 
a desire for office, to give them influence and authority, 
they will neglect the purity and excellence of good 
character and ability, which are the only things which 
should give any one respect and influence among the 
people of God. But, in the absence of such character 
and ability as will give a man influence and power 
among the followers of Jesus Christ, some may be- 
come enraged because we do not form some kind of 
an organization that will give the desired power by 



BOOK OF GEMS. 43 

virtue of an office. Such a power as this we hope 
never- to see established in the church of God. If 
men wish power and influence let them act in such 
a manner as will he worthy of, and command them ; 
and then they will know how to use, and not abuse 
them. 

Our present organization, little as some men seem 
to think of it, has maintained a general state of union, 
and has made a concentrated effort for the conversion 
of the world, unequalled by any body of people about 
us. While other religious bodies have been divided 
and distracted by the frivolous worldly questions of 
our times, we, as a people, stand firm and unshaken, 
under the guidance of Him who gave us both a nat- 
ural and a religious being. 

Some one will inquire,' what do you plead for ? or 
what do you vindicate ? It will be said ; it is of no 
use to be exciting fearful apprehensions, and at the 
same time setting forth nothing tangible. We will, 
therefore, make an effort to set out something definite 
and tangible. 

1st. We do not want any general combination, in 
the form of an Association, Conference, Synod or 
Counci], to govern the churches. 

2d. We do not want any such body of men to de- 
cide who shall be our ministers, or how they shall be 
supported. 

3d. We do not want any such body of men to de- 
cide who shall be our publishers. 

4th. Every congregation properly organized, has 
the right to govern its own members, either in itself, 
or by calling to its assistance neighboring churches 
and evangelists. 



44 BOOK OF GEMS. 

5th. All letters of commendation, or sentences of 
condemnation, depend wholly for their authority and 
influence with those to whom they may be presented, 
upon the intelligence and moral worth of the body 
whence they emanated. Hence a minister "whose 
praise is in all the churches," and who may be " chosen 
of the churches," to perform any certain mission, must 
have more weight and influence among the people 
where he goes, than he who is destitute of such com- 
mendation. 

6th. We want voluntary organizations for mission- 
ary purposes, the distribution of bibles, tracts, books, 
etc., etc., all of which we have a right to form in any 
way which we may conceive most conducive to the 
interests of the Redeemer's cause. 



• ► <• 



THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 

'HE Church of Christ was not made for the preach- 
ers, but the preachers of Christ were made for 
the world and the church. The Church of Christ 
does not belong to the preachers of Christ — it is not 
their property — but they belong to the church — are its 
property. The church is not the servant of the preach- 
ers, but preachers of Christ are servants of the church- 
es. The Church of Christ is not called and sent by 
preachers, but preachers are called and sent by the 
church. Preachers in the kingdom of Christ are no 



BOOK OF GEMS. 45 

more dignitaries, kings, and priests, than any other 
members. They are the Lord's instruments, put forth 
through the church to do his work, and mighty instru- 
ments too, while the Lord is with them, hut the poor- 
est, most useless and miserable creatures on this earth 
when forsaken of God. Or, in other words, when they 
are doing the LoroVs work, with an eye single to his 
glory, there are no such instruments for good among 
men ; but when they become selfish, engage simply in 
their own work, or that which they can turn to their 
own personal aggrandizement, their usefulness ceases, 
and they are dead weights upon the cause. Our Lord's 
own life is the model of all perfection in human char- 
acter, both public and private. ISTo community need 
look for any permanent good from any preacher who 
does not imitate the character of his Lord and Master. 
He may be much of a gentleman, very fine, pleasant 
and interesting to worldly-minded persons, and not do 
any thing or say any thing that would remind any one 
of the Savior of the world. But to come under the 
name of a preacher of Christ, a disciple of Christ, and 
not be like him, not make men think of him, love him, 
and desire to come to him, is a deception upon the 
church and the world. 



46 BOOK OF GEMS. 



PROGRESSING BACKWARD. 



TpF some of the movements now on foot are to be 
^ tolerated, there is no reason for our existence as a 
°[ body. If we want organs, gorgeous temples, 
Catharine wheels, clerical orders, superior courts, 
organizations and numerous societies, aside from the 
local congregations of the Lord, the Pope can supply 
any demand for any or all of these. If there are 
" means of grace," he is rich in means. He can fur- 
nish them an outlet for their overwhelming benevo- 
lence in the innumerable channels he has opened. If 
the great problem is how to reach the pockets of the 
people and build expensive temples, put up tall spires 
and chimes of bells, he has solved it. He has swarms 
of men, and women, too, doing his bidding and under 
tine pay, living on the fat of the land. He has a sys- 
tem, a plan, an organization, a grand one ; the broadest 
one ever made by man. Here is the opening for men 
who long for something of that sort. There is no use 
in mincing the matter, nor in half-way measures. Why 
not at one bound go right up to the grand culmination 
of all this kind of progress ? There is no use in trudg- 
ing along behind the Pope, when a man can go to him 
and be received into his embrace at once. 

What a farce for men to be talking of progress, 
going on to perfection, keeping up with the age, etc., 
etc., when they are giving up and retrograding from 
the grandest progress possible to men — the progress 



BOOK OF GEMS. 47 

lip to the ground consecrated by the feet of the 
apostles and first Christians. Talk of progress when 
o-oing back to the feeble and exploded schemes of sec- 
tarians and patronizing their shallow devices ! Prog- 
ress, indeed, to turn away from the holy gospel, the 
power of God to salvation, and scheme to catch people 
and draw them in by the blandishments of fine houses, 
theatrical, musical shows and clerical pretentions ! No, 
brethren, all this is empty and powerless for good, and 
yielding up to the influences of hardness of heart, 
and aiding on that overwhelming avalanche of 
unbelief now coming upon us. We must stand by 
our Lord and the simplicity of the gospel, its faith 
and practice, worship and discipline. We can defend 
and maintain the gracious system of mercy and grace 
given by our Lord, in its own native purity, but we 
can maintain nothing else. There must be no wedge 
of gold in the camp, no Achan. We must offer no 
strange fires on God's altar. The Lord directs our 
minds and hearts and keep us in the love of Christ. 
We long to see those who trouble us cease to give 
pain to the hearts of the friends of the Lord ; to learn 
to be happy themselves and make others happy. 



48 BOOK Otf GEMS. 



NO DIVISION CAN COME. 



WitO general division can come. The main ground 
<*j I we occupy precludes the idea of any general 
Qjy division. A vain man, or a bad man, may occa- 
sionally scatter a flock, tear up a church and ruin it. 
But, then, such a man mil soon find his level and 
come to nothing, or become surrounded "by influences 
strong enough to control him. There is no machinery 
of which he can get hold to produce a general division j 
nor is there any place where an entering- wedge can be 
introduced to rive us asunder. 

]STo man can depart from the doctrine sufficiently to 
produce a division, without losing his influence, so 
that he will have no power to do anything more than 
lead off an insignificant faction, such as will die out 
in a short time. Take any one of the elements now 
annoying us, and tell us how a general division can 
grow out of it. You will see that it can not be done. 
Take, for instance, the question about evangelizing 
and the different methods insisted on, and inquire how 
we can divide on it. One man is for this plan or that, 
and goes for it. Another man is not for this plan or 
that, and goes against it. The one for it, works 
for it, and the other does not. After a little space the 
difference will wear out, and they will fall into the 
same channel and work together. Different schemes 
will be tried, found inefficient and useless, and be 
abandoned. After the brethren have time to mature 



fcOOK OF GEMS. 49 

the matter they will come round to the right ground 
and go on in harmony. Unscriptural things will be 
discarded, impracticable things will prove failures, and 
shallow things will be treated with contempt. Men 
that are unlovely, of bad spirit, spiteful and revenge- 
ful, will soon develop themselves to the satisfaction 
of all. True men — men of faith and love and zeal — 
will go on and work where the Lord shall open the 
way for them ; not for man, nor to please man, but 
for the Lord, and to please the Lord, and the work 
will go on. Men that will not work, that have no work 
in them, but want large pay, will seek fat places, and 
get them, if they can, and if they can not, croak about 
our lack of system, disorder, want of organization and 
the like, pine away and vanish out of sight. 

But may we not have a general division about the 
organ ? JNot at all. We have none among us that will 
exclude us if we will not fellowship the organ. This 
is all the difficulty there is. Some of us will not wor- 
ship with the organ nor fellowship it. Will not that 
divide us ? Not at all. Those who would rather have 
their organ in their worship, than those who will not, 
and can not worship with it, will have it, and let those 
who can not worship with it, slay away. Those who 
can not worship with it will seek some place where 
they can worship without it, and worship as they know 
to be according to Scripture. They know this to be 
safe. 



50 EOO£ OF GEMS* 



SOME THINGS CAN NOT BE SETTLED. 




E once acted on a committee with several others, 
heard testimony and arguments for a week, and 
had the parties bound in writing to abide the 
decision of the committee. When the decision was 
made the parties acquiesced in it, shook hands over it, 
and we prayed over them and were all happy. But in 
a short time, we do not remember whether a week or a 
month, the whole matter was thrown aside and the 
parties stood as they did before. Our prayerful and 
patient work all went for nothing. 

When brethren become alienated they frequently do 
not want to settle their difficulties, but to get an advan- 
tage over an opposing party. No court of appeal nor 
anything we can say will reconcile them. If we, in 
any part of the affair, agree with them, they there 
agree with us ; but if we in any part of it differ from 
them they tliere differ from us. There the matter ends. 
Still, we will try and give a little attention to the mat- 
ters in hand. 

There are cases where nothing can be done. In 
ether words, there are cases that can not be settled. 
Church members become like the man's rails that had 
been in a crooked fence so long that they would not 
make a straight fence. Church-members sometimes 
have been crooked so long that they win not become 
straight. They continue in their alienation so long 
that it becomes a kind of habit with them and food 
for them. They can not do well without it. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 51 

If a church is about equally divided by a difficulty 
and can not settle the matter among themselves, and 
will not refer the matter to a committee, it simply can 
not be settled. A case that can not be settled must 
remain unsettled. We answer, that in that case noth- 
ing can be done. Some cases of difficulty will never 
be settled in this world, and will have to be referred 
to the last judgment for adjudication. It would be 
well, though, in such a case as stated, for the disaf- 
fected party to consider the matter well, and see to 
it that they have acted wisely and in the Spirit of the 
Lord in the whole matter. On the other hand, the 
church party should review the whole ground care- 
fully, and see to it that all they can do to open the 
way for the disaffected party to become reconciled 
and brought into the unity of the Spirit and the bond 
of peace be done. Let no stone remain unturned, no 
effort untried and nothing remain undone that might 
bring peace. 



> »■ • < • 



OUTWARD APPEARANCE. 




|f]ffl E have made a standing arrangement for paper 
this year, of which the present pamphlet is a 

^ sample, and we shall do our utmost to have the 
whole volume printed in a neat and legible manner. 
As to fine paper, covers, etc., they are like fine clothes 
only necessary to encase the bodies and souls which 
will not pass without them. You have, no doubt, seen 
the preacher wrapped in the finest broadcloth, and 



52 BOOK OF GEMS. 

a golden chain for a watch-guard, who, after a labored 
effort for an hour would only prove that he was a 
human frame, finely clad, but no preacher. In clothing 
our thoughts in pamphlets, as in clothing our persons, 
the proper rule should be, to have the apparel just 
such as not to be noticed at all, and then the thoughts 
in the pamphlet or the man himself may be seen. Let 
the attire be neat enough not to be observed for its 
shabbiness, and plain enough not to be noticed for its 
fineness, that the person in the attire may be seen. It 
is true, it is desirable to have a paper printed plain 
and neat, but all this and fine paper into the bargain 
will never make it go, if there be not some life, spirit 
and power in the articles themselves. 

Some men seem astonished that their publications 
do not circulate, seeing that they contain such a dis- 
play of the most elegant literary taste, not seeming to 
be aware of the fact, that not one common reader out 
of fifty ever perceives the mighty effort at all. Yet 
there can be no objection to fine style. The difficulty 
in that class to which we refer, is not that they write 
in fine style, but that there is nothing out the style — 
neither soul, body, nor spirit. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 53 



LITTLE MATTERS. 



TpT may seem strange that a human body, weighing 
I one hundred and fifty pounds, would he disturbed 
L by a little thorn in it, not an eighth of an inch 
long ! But, strange as it may appear, it is a fact. 
And you can not accustom the body to it by piercing 
the thorn in deeper and deeper, till the body will be- 
come easy and comfortable ; but you can in that way 
produce irritation, then inflammation, then mortifica- 
tion, and then death. Death has been produced in 
this way many times. He is no friend to the body 
who continues to push the thorn in deeper and deeper, 
nor is he who would excuse him in so doing, or encour- 
age him in it. There is but one remedy, and that is 
to remove the thorn. Even if you have to make the 
wound much larger than it is, the thorn must be 
removed, or the end will be death. 

There are cases in which a thorn might be pierced 
into the flesh an inch, and produce no pain or irrita- 
tion ; but they are cases where there is no life in the 
flesh. A thorn pierced into a dead body will produce 
no pain or irritation. A dead body has no power to 
resist it, and will make no effort. This is the reason 
precisely that a thorn produces no irritation or pain 
when pierced into certain bodies. They are dead 
bodies. It is no indication that the body is not alive 
and in healthy condition, to find it resisting foreign 
matter, and making an effort to remove obstructions ; 



54 BOOK OF GEMS. 

but when it can not do this, the body must die. It can 
not live and the obstruction remain, at least, only for 
a short time. But who will permit even a little tliom 
to remain in his flesh ? We care not how little it may 
be ; it is foreign, it is irritating, and, unless removed, 
will produce death. 

It was a little thing for Eve to partake of the for- 
bidden fruit. Thomas Paine inquired, " What harm 
was there in eating an apple ? " This is the watchword 
with all the unlawful things that people desire to do. 
•" What harm is it ? " When we worship according to 
Scripture we never inquire, " What harm is it ? " It is 
not in doubt, and calls out no such inquiry. It is not 
under any suspicion. To worship according to Scrip- 
ture is manifestly right. Why should we lag in any- 
thing in doubt, under suspicion, and repulsive to any 
portion of the body, when we have a divinely-pre- 
scribed worship held in no doubt ? 

It was a little thing for Achan to take a Babylonish 
garment, some silver, and a wedge of gold, and secrete 
them in his tent ; but when he came to confess, it was 
not a litttle matter. 

He said : " I have sinned against the Lord God of 
Israel." On account of this little matter, three thou- 
sand men were defeated, and Israel disgraced. "Joshua 
said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall 
trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with 
stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned 
them with stones." Here is a fine sample of little 
matters, and of troubling the people of God with little 
matters. See Joshua vii. 19-26. 

It was a little matter for Uzza to " put forth his hand 
to hold the ark ;" but he fell dead on account of it. See 



BOOK OF GEMS. 55 

1 Chron. xiii. 9. He appeared to have been friend 1 y 
to the ark, sincere, etc., Tout his touching the ark 
brought death. What harm was there in touching the 
ark ? It did not injure it. It may be that he saved it 
from falling. But he violated the law of Gfod. He 
incurred the anger of God. 

What became of them who offered strange fire on 
God's altar? See Lev. x . : "And Nadab and Abihu, 
the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and 
put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered 
strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded 
them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and 
devoured them, and they died before the Lord." That 
was a little matter ; only slightly tampering with the 
worship ; simply introducing a new element, which the 
Lord commanded them not, or did not command them. 
It is a fearful thing to tamper with the worship. 

In one word : " If every transgression and disobe- 
dience received a just recompense of reward," in God's 
dealings with men in former ages, how shall we escape 
if we neglect so great salvation ? If God allowed no 
departures in the typical worship, why should we 
assume that he will permit it in the worship typified? 
If everything had to be done according to the patterns 
given to Moses in the typical dispensation, how can 
any man infer that we may depart from the substance? 
We had better take heed now. We may not add any 
thing, nor take any away from what the Lord gave. 
We may not preach any other gospel, or even pervert 
the gospel of Christ. 

It was a little matter to charge that Jesus had "an 
unclean spirit," but those who did it sinned against the 
Holy Spirit, and are in danger of " eternal damnation." 



56 BOOK OF GEMS. 

« 

It was a little matter for Ananias and Sapphira to lie 
about the price of their possessions, but it was soon 
followed by a judgment from the Lord. 

It was a little matter for the Corinthians to get up a 
feast when they met to worship, but on account of it 
many wero sickly, weakly, and some had died. 

Some of the little matters now among us will be 
found sufficient to stop the ark of God, and cause 
more than three thousand to be defeated. If Moses 
were to address some of our men, he would say to 
them, as he did to Aaron, " What hath this people 
done to thee that thou hast brought so great a sin up- 
on them?" or as Joshua said to Achan : "Why hast 
thou troubled us ? The Lord shall trouble thee this 
day." Let us hear and live. ■ 



>»■ « « • 



ONE IDEA ISM. 



« 



E are asked to define what we mean by one-idea 
ism, and explain to us how the universe is 
^ made up of atoms. With this request we will 
cheerfully comply. It is to be carried away with one 
idea. The idea may be a good one, or it may not ; 
but one-ideaism, is giving an idea undue importance. 
A man addicted to one-ideaism, can no more cover it 
than a leopard can change his spots. If he attempts 
to pray, he will commence with something else as a 
stepping stone, regularly paving the way and unmis- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 57 

takably making his way to his favorite idea. When 
it is put forth and he is delivered of it he is relieved 
for the time Being, especially, if he finds that it annoys 
some one. If yon call on him for an exhortation, a 
sermon, or if he writes, he may wind round and round, 
trace back and forward, but it will, in spite of himself, 
in all his efforts to conceal it, be manifest to all, that 
he takes no interest in all he is saying, only as it sub- 
serves his purpose, in paving the way to the one idea, 
the center around which the whole man revolves, and 
to which his entire existence is subservient. If that 
one idea is not dragged in, the man is not relieved, 
his burden is still upon his soul, and he is in travail 
waiting to be relieved. 

You will see this class of men at meetings, and 
conventions, both political and religious, without the 
most distant idea of promoting the objects of the 
meeting, convention, etc., as the case may be, but with 
no higher aim than introducing their idea to notice, 
making the meeting an engine, and men, met under 
other obligations, and with the ostensible object of 
the meeting before them, instruments to carry the pet 
idea on the high road to fame. Sometimes this class 
of men, because other men have other objects in view, 
are actually engaged in some good and great work, 
have not time, will not be annoyed nor turned aside to 
hear them nor dispute with them ; or, if they do, give 
them but a passing notice — think all the world afraid 
of them. But they need have no fears on this score. 
An idea that has not force enough to burst its way 
forth in the world in defience of all fogies and conser- 
vatives, would die a natural death, if the parent of it 
could get some one to bring it forth. 



58 BOOK OF GEMS. 



MINISTERING ANGELS. 




E have much in the present day on the spiritual 
care which the divine Father exercises over his 

^ creatures in this world. We consider it clear 
that God has angels who guard, protect, and take 
care of that portion of the human family which put 
their trust in him. That the first Christians believed 
that a good man had an angel, is clear, from Acts, xii. 
15. When the Apostle Peter was delivered from 
prison by a miracle, and his voice was heard at the 
gate, where several disciples were collected, they 
could not believe it was him, but said, " It is his 
angel" 

Speaking of his disciples, the Lord said, " In hea- 
ven their angels do always behold the face of my 
Father which is in heaven." Mat. xviii. 10. This 
shows clearly that the disciples of Christ have angels. 
Paul says, " But to which of the angel said he at any 
time, sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies 
thy footstool ? Are tliey not all ministering spirits, 
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of 
salvation V The heirs of salvation then have minis- 
tering angels, who wait upon them continually, and 
at the same time behold the face of God in heaven. 

Some men seem perplexed to see the use of prayer, 
unless God operates upon the hearts of christians by 
an abstract spirit; but if the ever blessed Father 
keeps ministering angels about them as a mighty wall, 



BOOS OF GEMS. 69 

and thus guards, protects and preserves them, it 
would seem to involve the same necessity for prayer, 
that would be involved if he should do it any other 
way. Why should it not ? With us, we consider 
ourselves under the same obligations, should God be 
pleased to preserve us in one way, that we would be, 
should he do it in another. Not only so, but the man 
of God ought to have confidence enough in God to 
believe he will answer any petition asked, according 
to his will, whether he has told us or not. 



•+■ <• 



NO SIDE STRUCTURE. 




E can not recognize the side institution, nor the 
officers in it, as neither the one nor the other 

^ is known to the oracles of God, or to history 
for ages after the sacred canon was complete. What 
is the use to talk of a church of which there is not a 
trace in the volume of God, nor in anything written 
for hundreds of years after the apostles ? There is 
not a trace of Romanism, of a pope, cardinal or arch- 
bishop in the Bible, except in the prophecies that 
foretell the apostasy, nor in any other writing of the 
first three centuries. Nor is their any account of any 
of the others we have mentioned for a much greater 
length of time. 

We find " the body of Christ," " the kingdom of 



60 BOOK OP GEMS. 

God," and " the Church, of God," spoken of in Scrip- 
ture. The Lord says, " On this rock I will "build my 
church." Here is something clear and definite. We 
can bring this " "body " before us, this " kingdom," 
or " church," be members of it, confine our minds and 
hearts to it ; keep it and all its grand interest in view, 
and not some side structure, imitation or something 
like it. 

The apostles and first evangelists, the overseers and 
deacons in the first church, were all ministers or ser- 
vants in the grand work of the " one body," or "the 
" kingdom," and not of any side structure. All who 
are really ministers or servants of Jesus now, are in 
this " one body," " kingdom " or " church," and de- 
voted to its interests and growth, and not to the 
building up, extending or perpetuation of any side 
structure, under the pretext that it is like the original 
or any other, but for the original itself. 

All these side structures, names and laws are usur- 
pation, and the true ministers or servants of the king- 
dom, can but regard them as such, and labor to melt 
them all away and put all the good material there is 
in them into " God's building," " the temple of God," 
and thus make this material useful and acceptable to 
God through Jesus Christ. 

As to clerical airs, the peculiar cut of the coat, the 
white neck-tie, and all other such " outward signs of 
inward grace," they are the offspring of shallowness, 
weakness and folly, and wholly incompatible with the 
plainness, meekness and humility of Jesus and of 
good taste and sense. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 



61 



LIGHT WITHIN. 




*^VLL the perversions, innovations and conniptions 
1 * of the pure and holy religion of Jesns Christ 
that have found way into it and disgraced it, 
have "been introduced under some pretext of doing 
good— some plea of a supposed benevolent nature. 
In some form or other they have all claimed to have 
the good of the cause in view, and in some way have 
put up some kind of claim to divine authority. Some 
of them were introduced by good men, with good in- 
tentions, who saw not the evil that would follow, while 
others, no doubt, were introduced by " designing men." 
George Fox was probably a good man, or a man of 
good intentions, and, when he talked of the " light 
within," and tried to sustain his position by Scripture, 
he had no idea of the evil that would follow— much 
less did he design it. Though he quoted Scripture, it 
was not as a rule of faith and practice ; not as a sys- 
tem of religion, nor as supreme authority, but merely 
to give currency to the theory he was laboring to in- 
troduce and support it in the minds of the people. 
The leading idea in the new theory was that the light 
within was the guide— the unerring rule ; that it was 
from God, and that he who followed it was following 
the will of God, the influence of the Spirit. He cer- 
tainly did not intend to turn the hearts of the people 
away from God and lead them to follow the imagina- 
tions of their own hearts. He clearly designed no such 



62 BOOK OF GEMS. 

wickedness as this ; but what has followed ? Where 
has the " light within " led his followers ? It has led 
some of them to neglect and forsake the word of God; 
to regard the Bible simply as a good "book, a true his- 
tory and guide to the people of its time, but not as an 
authority, a rule of faith and practice for us. It has 
led some of them into Spiritualism, others into Univer- 
salism, and some, more recently, into exciting revival, 
mourners' bench-meetings, in which old members have 
been trying to " get religion," as seekers do in Metho- 
dist and other revivals. Many of them have been led 
into out-and-out infidelity. This is where the " light 
within " has led them. Original Quakerism has vir- 
tually run out. 

Numerous other bewildered people are seeking an 
evidence of pardon and acceptance with God directly 
from .heaven. They are trying to find this evidence in 
their feelings, impressions, emotions, impulses, sensa- 
tions, dreams, some sound or voice, and not in the 
promise of God. This direct or immediate evidence, 
in their view of it, is from the Spirit of God and per- 
fectly reliable. The promise of God, with them, is the 
mere word, the bare word, the mere letter of Scripture. 
They are thus completely turned aside from the testi- 
mony of the Spirit of God, as confirmed by the most 
grand and awful displays of supernatural power, to 
their own imaginations, their own spirits, and as com- 
pletely perverted as if they never had received any 
revelation from God. 

There is no teaching of the Spirit of God among men 
only that found upon the pages of the Bible. Those 
led by the teaching of the Spirit of God spread on the 
pages of the Bible are led by the Spirit of God, but 



BOOK OF GEMS. 63 

those not led by that teaching are not led by the Spirit 
of God at all. They may be led by their own spirits, 
desires, feelings, emotions, impressions, sensations; 
by men, or even the adversary, " captive at his will ;" 
but they are not led by the Spirit nor under his influ- 
ence at all. When they turn away from the teaching 
of the Spirit of God recorded in the Bible, it matters 
not much to what they turn, whether they profess to 
be led by the "light of nature," so called, " the light 
of reason," " the light of conscience," the " light with- 
in," impressions, feelings, emotions, sensations, by 
men, or the adversary, they turn away from God, from 
Christ and from the Holy Spirit. They are perfectly 
deluded, and, if they thus continue, they must come 
to ruin. God will eventually overthrow all who turn 
away from him, no matter to what they turn. 

Men may claim to have the Spirit, to be led by the 
Spi.it, talk about the Spirit, pray about the Spirit, sing 
about, the Spirit, and at the same time despise the 
things of the Spirit, the things commanded by the 
Spirit, and do despite to the work of the Spirit. Such 
men manifestly have not the Spirit. All their claim 
to having the Spirit is an empty and idle pretense. 
They are not led by the Spirit at all, but are led in 
opposition to all the Spirit ever taught. Those led by 
the Spirit receive what the Spirit teaches, as found in 
Scripture, believe it and delight to follow it. It is idle 
for those who will not do this to be talking about the 
Spirit, or the influence of the Spirit. 

If any man gets an immediate evidence of pardon, 
it is an evidence that comes not through the Mediator, 
for what comes through him is not immediate, but 
through him as a Medium, or Mediator. It is a direct 



64 BOOK OF GEMS. 

revelation, not through Christ at all, and it is a new 
revelation. Are men receiving any new revelations 
now ? The Mormons and Spiritualists think they are. 
Do others think so ? We do not believe any new revel- 
ations are now being made from God. On this ground 
we reject all Mormon pretensions, as well as Romish 
pretensions and those of Spiritualists. Since the 
apostles died, and those on whom they laid their 
hands died, not a miracle has been done or a revela- 
tion from God been made. Every pretense to miracle 
or revelation from then till now is an empty and idle 
pretense — an imposition. Since John, the Apostle, 
closed the book of Revelation, with the declaration 
that, if any man shall add to it, the plagues of that 
book shall be added to him, there is an end of all rev- 
elation till time shall be no more. 

Through Christ, God made a final revelation, to 
which nothing is to be added, and from which nothing 
is to be taken. The will of God is in that concerning 
man, and if we desire to know the mind of God we 
must consult that revelation. The restlessness of man 
is wonderful. He is not willing to be limited even to 
the revelation God has made, the testimony God has 
given concerning his Son, and the unfailing promise of 
God for assurance of acceptance with him. But this 
is the highest and the only assurance we have or can 
have, in this world. When God made the promise, 
that we might have strong consolation, he confirmed it 
by an oath. We come to God by faith and not by 
sight; we walk by faitli and not by sight; enjoy 
God, and Christ and the Holy Spirit by faitli and not 
by sight. So we enjoy the remission of sins and accep- 
tance with God by faith and not by sight. " He that 



book: of gems. 65 

belie veth and is baptized shall be saved" said the 
Lord, among the last words he nttered before he 
ascended to heaven. Men who will not rely on that 
promise — on the words shall be saved, or shall be par- 
doned — would not believe though one would rise from 
the dead. It is not baptism such need ; it is faith. 
They are not fit subjects for baptism. They must 
remember the condition, " He that believeth." They 
can not come to God without faith. " Without faith 
it is impossible to please him." 



•p- ■«< 



BE FIRM IN THE RIGHT. 



"Y?F it is wiser to obey God than man, if an infallible 
<j law is better than a fallible, if a perfect law is 
< ^ D better than an imperfect one, if a divine law is bet- 
ter than a human, if the authority of God is better 
than the authority of man, if the word of the Living 
God is better than a human creed, if the infallible 
teachings of inspiration are better than uninspired 
human creeds, if the teachings of the Holy Spirit 
of God are a safer guide to heaven than the teach- 
ings of erring men, if God should govern in pref- 
erence to man, we are right, and our opposers wrong, 
on this transcendent point, and it is our duty to 
God and our fellow-creatures, that we maintain with 
manly zeal and fortitude that which is so mani- 
festly and self-evidently the will of God. We never 
can falter. We have no ground to doubt or fear; 



66 BOOK OF GEMS. 

but if we shrink or hesitate, it must be manifest indif- 
ference. While we hope, then, for the blessing of God 
upon us, and call upon God for his mercy, let us 
remember our fealty to him, and maintain our integrity 
to the day of his coming. 



■ ► ■«• 



THE BIBLE WILL SAVE THE WORLD. 



/ HE Bible contains the true religion, or there is 
none. There is light in the Bible to save the 
world, or the world is lost. Our only choice is 
between the Bible and nothing. Judaism is abolished. 
Mohammedanism has no claims in internal merit or 
external evidence. The fruits of all Paganism show 
that it is evil, and only evil, continually. Infidelity 
has nothing for the world. While it would take Chris- 
tianity from us, it has nothing to propose. It is no 
system — no doctrine — teaches nothing and defends 
nothing. Its only province is to stand and deny. It 
finds fault with everything, starts doubts, destroys 
confidence, fills the world with fears, and spreads an 
eternal gloom over the prospects and hopes of all na- 
tions. Reason and the light of nature have been tried 
longer and more effectually than any system in the 
world. At least four thousand years have the pagan 
nations been trying what they could do for our race 
without a revelation from God. In all the experiments 
yet made, with no guide but reason and the light of 



BOOK OF GEMS. 67 

nature, the tendency has been downward. Deteriora- 
tion has "been the universal result, without the light of 
the Bible. We then, cling to the Bible, and the relig- 
ion it reveals, as the only hope of the world. If it 
fails, all must fail, and all must be lost. But it is folly 
of the most stupid order to speak of the Bible failing. 
Its Author is emphatically the friend of man. Its 
holy lessons are all for our good. All who have been 
led by it, are thankful they ever knew it. It has never 
deceived one or misled one. No one has ever lamented 
being led by it. The more solemn and affecting the 
circumstances around us, and the greater the trials in 
which we are placed, the more comforting and precious 
are its holy consolations to the soul. It encourages 
all that is good ; discourages and condemns all that is 
evil. It is our guide and comfort through the journey 
of life ; nor does it fail when we are sinking in death. 
]STo one who believed it before, in a dying hour denies 
and repudiates the Bible. But many determined infi- 
dels have recanted and repudiated their infidelity when 
sinking into the eternal state. That which they talked 
in health, that which dwelt upon their tongues in their 
mad career through life, they themselves condemned, 
in the most awful and solemn moments of life, and 
with their dying lips repudiated. How shameful and 
preposterous, that a man should live such a life of 
folly and inconsistency as to be compelled in his dying 
moments to condemn all his past life, with all the sen ■ 
timents he had cherished and inculcated, and warn all 
men against them ! 



68 BOOK OF GEMS. 



NOT RECEIVING THE REFORMATION, BUT CHRIST. 



'HE question is not whether men will receive us, 
our doctrines, our views, our church, or "the 
Reformation," or "Reformation doctrines? but 
whether they will receive him whom the Father hath 
sent, love him, follow him, place themselves under 
him, obey him, and trust in him forever. He is the 
center of all union, all love, and all piety. Upon him, 
all who love him, have received him and desire to fol- 
low him, being led by his voice, may unite. Having 
received him, been identified with him, as a matter of 
course, we receive all who have been received by him, 
are united with and love them, as members of the 
same family. When we speak of union, the question 
is not about receiving men, nor their views, but whether 
we can agree upon a leader, head, lawgiver or king. 
Jesus is the true Light that enlightens every man that 
comes into the world. He is the only divinely author- 
ized head, lawgiver and leader. The question we have 
to urge upon men, is whether they will come under 
him. If they will, they should proceed, like young 
Saul, to ascertain of him, what he requires of them, 
before they can be received, pardoned and saved by 
him. When they learn this of him, and come to him, 
in the way he has appointed, or by doing what he 
requires, they are received by him, united with him 
and with all that belong to him, and, as long as they 
continue to love and obey him, no adverse power can 



BOOK OF GEMS. " 69 

separate them from him. He is our rock, the rock of 
our salvation — the foundation which God has laid— for 
union in " one new man," or one new church, one 
" building of God," one " house of God," in which 
dwells the "one spirit," given by the "one Lord." 
Here upon the one rock — one foundation, which is 
Christ — in the one building or temple, in Christ, where 
all spiritual blessings are found, all the good, the pure 
and holy, may strike hands, unite, live in holy fellow- 
ship, while they continue in this world of sorrow and 
affliction, and after, be received up into glory, to dwell 
with their Lord and the holy society of the redeemed 
forever. Brethren, look at the vast numbers we have 
gathered into the one fold, and take fresh courage, and 
let us enter upon the work with spirit and might for 
another year. 



>»» ■«• 



LIFTED ABOVE SECTS AND PARTIES. 



'HE men who are meditating on union are now on 
trial, being put to the test, and will be compelled 
to show where they stand. Those who love union 
among christians more than denominationalism will 
sacrifice the denomination for union, but those who 
love denominationalism more than union will sacrifice 
union for the denomination. The union of the people 
of God is from heaven ; the denomination is from 
man. The denomination is the party, sect, faction. 
The body of Christ, or kingdom of God, is no sect, 



70 BOOK OF GEMS. 

party or denomination. It is as broad as the domin- 
ion of King Jesus. It is above all sects, parties and 
denominations. The man that rises so as to grasp 
the kingdom of God in his mind, ascends far above all 
sects, parties and denominations ; np to the throne and 
Him who sits on the throne; to the Supreme Majesty 
of heaven and earth. He loves the King above all 
kings and potentates, and loves the kingdom of God 
above all the kingdoms and empires of the world, and 
supremely above all parties, sects or denominations. 
We love no denomination, nor denominationalism, but 
love the people involved in the denomination; and 
while we desire to see the denomination literally abol- 
ished, wiped out, we desire to save the kingdom of 
God, the union of the people of God, and the people 
themselves. This can be done if the people will have 
it so. But if they love the sect, party or denomina- 
tion more than the Church of God, or the body of 
Christ, they will keep an eye to the sect, party or de- 
nomination ; to their little side institutions of human 
device ; every one of which originated with men, and 
without one scrap of divine authority; instead of 
rising to the grand and glorious institution ordained 
of God, with the Lord for its head, and the law of God 
for the rule of its faith and practice. 



Book of gems. ?i 



MAKING THE BIBLE SUPPORT HUMAN SYSTEMS. 

'HERE can be no apology for a man who knows 
what the truth is, what the doctrine of Christ is, 
what Christianity is, who will use it merely as a 
proof to sustain, prove, and impose something else up- 
on himself and others, for he might just as easily have 
received the truth, the doctrine of Christ, Christianity 
itself, enjoyed it, and been saved by it, as to have 
trifled with it, in trying to prove something else by it. 
But if a man does not know what the truth is, the doc- 
trine of Christ, Christianity is, and adopts something 
else, he is simply guessing at it, and is not to be relied 
upon. He has no foundation. 

We are as well convinced, as we are that there is a 
glorious heaven for the righteous, and a hell for the 
wicked, that no man now living, who knows what the 
Lord's truth is, what the gospel of Christ is, what 
Christianity is, and what the Bible is, and has appealed 
to it to sustain something else, and now continues so 
to appeal to it, could, if his life were at stake, give a 
good reason why he did not receive the truth itself, the 
gospel, Christianity, the Bible itself, rely upon it as 
his only hope for life, his only guide, as the only divine 
system, the only divine institution, in the place of 
perverting its glorious influence and power to sustain 
and prop up something else. And we are equally 
certain, that no man can answer to God, when the 
actions of all men shall be spread out in the last judg- 



1% £00£ OF GEMS. 

ment, for such a course. If Christianity is a system, 
if it is a divine institution, if it is the religion of Jesus 
Christ, if it is from God, and now binding upon the 
human family, as almost all the religious parties of 
these times admit, and as can not be denied, the sin of 
departing from it is great enough ; but to have the 
assurance to try to make it sanction any other system, 
to testify in support of any other, to try to divert its 
influence, power, and authority from its own work, to 
sustain and prop up some human system not mentioned 
in it, when it has expressly, under the most fearful and 
awful penalty, forbidden any perversion, addition, or 
subtraction, is a species of daring and aggression upon 
the institution of heaven and government of God, such 
as one would suppose no believer in the Bible would 
risk. Still it is done — almost daily done, in the pulpits 
all over the land ; and those who will not do it, who 
condemn it, who receive the Bible, Christianity, the 
gospel, the religion of Jesus Christ, all that God has 
revealed to man — all that has the name of God upon 
it, keep it distinct from every thing else, and will have 
nothing more, are opposed everywhere, sneered at and 
branded as heretics. Be it so. We look not to man 
for reward. We look not to sectarian parties to honor 
God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible, Christianity, or 
the gospel. We do not expect them, as parties, to 
come to the Bible, unless to draw support for their 
own schemes. But we regard not this ; we know we 
are right ; and it is not the great number that will 
stand, but those who are right. " Truth is mighty 
above all things, and will prevail." Brethren, push on 
the war, on this great question. The Bible will prevail 
in the end. Its enemies will all fail. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 73 



PIONEERS, SUPPORT, ETC. 



'HE pioneer men in this country felled the trees, 
cleared away the forests, built their houses and 
bams, and made a living. Many of their sons 
can not make a living with the farm and all the bal- 
ance fitted to their hand. In the same way, the first 
preachers went ont at their own expense, turned the 
people to God and built up churches, and now the 
preachers, with their fine salaries, houses in which to 
meet, and everything prepared to hand, are not accom- 
plishing as much, in proportion to their number and 
ability. Why is this ? Is it because they can not f 
Not at all. It is because they are not as devoted. 
They are not as enterprising. They are not as indus- 
trious. They are not as self-sacrificing. 

Those old preachers needed no " innocent amuse- 
ments," " innocent games," " healthful exercises," 
" pastime," ''social dance," "croquet," etc., etc. They 
knew nothing of torpid liver, indigestion, nervous 
prostration, etc., etc. Those afflictions were left for a 
later class. They obtained plenty of healthful exer- 
cise in clearing off, breaking and cultivating their new 
land, in their long rides on horseback, or trips on 
foot, and faithfully preaching, and the Lord blessed 
them. The results of their labor and sacrifices are 
seen all over this country. They looked after the 
children of Gfod and cared for them ; not with this 
new kind of care for money; not only the money of 



?4 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the living, but arranging to get the money of the 
dead; but they cared for men; watched for their 
souls, as those who shall give an account. 

We do not want to say one word in this connection, 
nor any other, that shall "be the means of cutting off 
one penny of support received by any good preacher 
who is faithfully doing the work of an evangelist, but 
would add to the support of many such men whose 
support is inadequate ; and as to mercenary and ava- 
ricious men in the ministry, and we trust there are but 
few of them, we have learned better than to waste our 
ink on them. We are writing for the good of the 
cause, and we rejoice to believe that we have the men, 
an extended body of them, able ministers of the gos- 
pel, who are devoted to the work, and willing to do 
anything in their power to advance the cause. These 
are reading, studying, and ready to listen to any- 
thing that will advance the cause. To these men we 
must look, and on them, as the agents under God, we 
must depend ; we must encourage their hearts, 
strengthen their hands and give them support. To 
these men we appeal and entreat them, in view of all 
that is dear to humanity ; in view of the suffering 
Savior, and lost man ; in view of their own children and 
the children of others, as well as the good of the world 
at large, to go into the field with a determination to 
preach the gospel of the grace of God ; go every- 
where, in the name of the Lord, where the people will 
listen to a discourse concerning Jesus and the resur- 
rection, and preach the unsearchable riches of Christ ; 
make all men see and turn them to God. Do not wait 
for a call, but go ; do not wait for some certain prom- 
ise of support, but trust to the promises of God ; go 



BOOK OF GEMS. 75 

in faith ; trust in God ; sow the good seed of the 
kingdom, the word of God, that it may fall into good 
and honest hearts and bring forth much fruit. Put in 
every sermon possible ; preach to every one who will 
hear; preach because you love God and man, and 
desire to save man from ruin, and because you love to 
preach ; because the Lord commands it, and the God 
of peace will be with you, care and provide for you. 



•» « • 



UNIVERSALISM. 




fffifE heard of a man who had heard Universalists 
occasionally, and gave them something when 

^ they were making contributions for their 
preachers. A preacher, who made one of his finest 
efforts to prove that all will be saved, inquired of him 
how he liked his argument. The man replied, " I did 
not like it at all." The preacher, disappointed, said : 
" You believe our doctrine ?" The man replied : " I do ; 
but you tried to prove it by the Bible, and all intelli- 
gent people know that the Bible is against us from 
one side to the other. The way I prove it is this : 
I deny the Bible, and then prom it by reason." This 
is certainly the more rational way. We care not who 
he is, nor where he comes from, nor what his attain- 
ments may be ; but the man who attempts to prove 
Universalism by the Bible opposes the common sense 
of mankind and the clearest language ever written, 



76 BOOK OF GEMS. 

The man who rejects the Bible out and ont, and is 
wandering in the darkness of unbelief, in the vagaries 
of those who reject the wisdom of God, might, in his 
philosophical speculations, try to show that all men 
would be saved, with at least some show of plausi- 
bility possibly ; but there is not only no plausibility 
in anything that can be adduced from the Bible to 
show that all men will be saved, but clear statements 
of the Bible can not be true and all men be saved. 
It cannot be true that those " who believe not the Son 
shall not see life" and that all men shall be saved. 
It can not be true, as stated in Scripture, that " these " 
(the wicked) " shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment," and all men be saved. 

The man who affirms that those who die in their 
sins shall be wholly and happy in heaven contradicts 
the clearest utterances of Scripture. When time 
shall end and God shall exclaim, " He that is filthy, 
let him be filthy still," there will be no more repent- 
ance ; yet some will be filthy — unsound. 

Universalism had its day in this country ; has run 
its course and is going by. There is not one-tenth as 
much of it in this country as there was thirty years 
ago. There is no argument of consequence about it 
any more. The only thing wanting to show what it 
is, will appear anywhere when they undertake to form 
churches, keep up Sunday-schools, keep up prayer- 
meetings, meet regularly on the first day of the ^eek 
and worship. Let them undertake to enforce the 
clear requirements of Scripture on their people, and 
they will soon get a lesson. They will soon explain 
that all will be saved, and they will find that they will 
have no use for baptism, the Lord's Supper, prayer- 
meetings, nor any regular worship. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 77 

It will not do to read, " He who believes not shall 
be saved ;" " He who believes not the Son sliall see 
life;" "The wrath of God shall not abide on him;" 
" If you believe not that I am he, you shall not die in 
your sins ; " Where I am you shall come;" "These" 
(the wicked) " shall not go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment ;" " The beast and the false prophets shall 
not be tormented day and night forever and ever ;" 
" He who shall sin against the Holy Spirit shall not be 
in danger of eternal damnation," etc., etc. The man 
who denies his Bible first, and then starts out to prove 
that all will be saved from some other source, is a 
much more sensible man than the man that undertakes 
to prove it from the Bible. Whatever the Bible may 
mean besides, it does not mean Universalism. The 
man who holds and undertakes to prove Universalism 
has no use for a Bible, unless it be to show his skill 
in getting round the clearest things ever written. 



SUPPORT WORKERS. 



'HE brethren know that men cannot devote their 
lives to the work of evangelizing without support, 
and they will give the support, and do it much 
more freely where they can see the work done, than 
where they can see no worlt done. The preachers in 
the field doing the work are receiving the main sup- 
port given, and ought to receive it. The men not in 
the field, and that will not go into the field, ought not 



78 BOOK OF GEMS. 

to receive the support. The brethren are not in the 
way of sending it to them. 

We hope the preachers generally will see what is 
being done by those in the work, go out and partici- 
pate in the heavenly work, that they, too, when the 
Chief Shepherd shall appear, may have a crown of 
glory that fades not away. How can men with the 
love of God in them see their fellow-creatures perish- 
ing, and not be inspired with a zeal to go forth and 
gather them into the kingdom of God ? Look at the 
tremendous cloud of darkness over the minds of the 
people, and then inquire can a man who has the light 
be excusable unless he uses the means the Lord has 
put in his power for the enlightenment of the world. 
]STo, we can not be excusable ; the love of Christ con- 
strains us ; the value of the souls of men urges, and 
the example of all the ancient worthies impels us to 
go into the great harvest and help to reap it down. 



» ■*«- 



RECKLESS TWADDLE. 



'HE following purports to be taken from one of 
Moody's sermons, and is reported in the Baptist 
Union : 

If I thought that baptism was God's way of saving- 
men, I'd give up preaching, borrow a pail and go round 
the streets baptizing every one I met, and if they 
would'nt let me do it, I'd catch them asleep and bap- 
tize any way. He says, " Ye must be born again." 



BOOK OF GEMS. 79 

It is a wonderful humiliation to be compelled to 
admit that this undignified, irreverent and reckless 
language is from the lips of a man probably at this 
time attracting as much attention as any man in the 
world, as a preacher, or it may be more. It is morti- 
fying in a high degree to be convinced that the state 
of the public mind is such that a man like this is 
caressed, lauded and admired by the multitude. 

It is no small work to enlighten the people of the 
world. We have gained the right of private judgment, 
private interpretation of the Scriptures, the liberty of 
speech and of the press ; and we have the Bible, trans- 
lated into our own language, in almost every house ; 
and we have our system of free schools and universal 
education. But still there is a premium for ignorance. 

Moody with his commonplace talks, and Sankey 
with his songs, call out greater crowds and have more 
admirers than the most profound Bible instructor in 
the world. What reverence has he for the Lord, who 
ordained baptism and submitted to it himself, " was 
baptized of John in Jordan," after saying, " Thus it 
becomes us to fulfill all righteousness, and over whom 
the heavens parted as he rose from his baptism, and 
on whom the Spirit descended, and to whom the 
Almighty Father said, " Thou art my Son, the beloved 
in whom I am well pleased ? " What appreciation has 
he, or what respect for our Lord's commission, in which 
he has the preaching of the gospel, the belief of it, 
the repentance, the baptism and salvation all con- 
nected together, when he talks of giving up preaching 
and borrowing a pail and going round the streets bap- 
tizing every one he met ? What does he know or care 
about what baptism is? He may find the untaught 



80 BOOK OF GEMS. 

multitudes who will gaze at him and admire such irrev- 
erent manifestations of ignorance, want of piety and 
dignity, mingled with such low slang as we find in the 
language quoted above, and he may find plenty of 
thoughtless people who will be pleased with such un- 
worthy flings at things which he does not understand, 
and which he perverts and misapplies. But there are 
many people in this country who can not be gulled in 
any such style. Low slang is not preaching Jesus nor 
his gospel, nor is misrepresentation or perverting 
Scripture preaching Jesus. 

If he has our Lord's commission, and ever reads it, 
he knows or ought to know, that the same commission 
has in it the preaching of the gospel, the believing, 
repenting, baptism and salvation. The preaching, be- 
lieving, repentance, baptism and salvation all go 
together ; and if he has intelligence enough to preach 
at all acceptably to the Lord, he knows that no people 
in this country think that baptizing is of any value, 
without being preceded by the preaching of the gospel 
and the faith, unless among those who profess to 
baptize infants. They did not understand him to 
make this fling at them, or they would soon have 
depleted his audience. 

Moody and Sankey have the clear Scriptures before 
them, giving an account of inquiring persons coming 
to the apostles inquiring the way of salvation, and the 
plain answers giving the apostolic way, and they 
ignore these instructions — keep them out of sight. 
They have the answers of the apostles showing them 
the way, and they have refused to even read these 
Scriptures, or to let the people know what the way 
was, as set forth by the apostles. For this they will 



BOOK OF GEMS. 81 

give an account. They ignored it, evaded it, and 
avoided it. They neither enter the kingdom them- 
selves nor will they permit those who would enter. 

Before we lay down our pen, we must refer Moody 
and Sankey, with some others, to a lesson Paul once 
taught a man, in view of a transaction no worse than 
the uttering the words quoted from Moody, at the 
beginning of this article. The man with whom Paul 
dealt, was simply trying to turn the deputy away from 
the faith. The deputy was by name, Sergius Paulus. 
When he did this, Saul (who is called Paul) filled with 
the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, and said, " 
full of all subtlety and all mischief, you child of the 
devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not 
cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And 
now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and 
you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. 
And immediately there fell on him a mist and a dark- 
ness ; and he went about seeking some one to lead him 
by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what 
was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine 
of the Lord" Acts xiii. 9-12. 

It is a most fearful thing to pervert the right ways 
of the Lord — to try to turn any one away from the 
faith, or to put asunder that which God has joined 
together, and which he forbids man to put asunder. 

In the last commission, the only authority for all 
gospel preaching, the Lord has joined together, 
preaching the gospel, believing the gospel, repentance, 
baptism and salvation, or pardon of sins, and no man 
can part these asunder, except at the peril of his 
soul. Is it possible that any man can fail to see that 
no man can be, in the true sense, a preacher of Jesus 



82 BOOK OF GEMS. 

and ignore any part of this commission, or any part of 
the way of salvation, as set forth by the apostles 
under this commission ? 



•»■ -«i 



THE KIND OF PREACHING REQUIRED. 



[pN the same way, insipid preaching about sweet 
birds and sweet flowers, plants and stars, etc., etc., 
appears to have streaks of light in it, but after it 
is over, the darkness appears greater than before. No 
gospel light is shed forth, no truth of weight and im- 
portance in the salvation of man brought forth or 
enforced; no obedience is enjoined and no hope is 
inspired. No Felix trembles. Nothing is said about 
the preaching, unless it be that "it was splendid," 
and u I do love to hear him so much ;" " It was very 
fine," etc. But, put the question, What did you learn ? 
and silence would reign. This kind of thing may 
please people who do not intend to hear the gospel, 
or who, in the language of Scripture, " Turn away 
their ears from the truth ;" but we must have some- 
thing different from this, something more tangible, 
intelligible and impressive to save men. We must 
have something more than mere vaporing. 

We must have " first principles," as they are now 
styling the gospel, and have them in profusion. We 
must have them for the instruction of the vast num- 



£00K OF OEMS* §S 

"bers who have Ibeen brought in without understanding 
them, and who must understand them before they can 
be intelligent christians, and we must have them for 
the multitudes who have never been brought to God. 
Somehow, from some source, we have a few among us 
who are styling the gospel " first principles," and then 
insist that we must leave the first principles. Those 
who are in the world must be converted, brought to 
God, and to this end they must have the gospel, no 
matter if men and the adversary do call it " first 
principles." The right way for those who have never 
begun, is to begin, and there is no right way to begin 
only to begin at the beginning, no matter if sectarian 
faces do scowl, or some worldly member of the church 
grumble. We must walk into the gospel, not as if 
we were afraid some one would hit us in the face, but 
"in full assurance of faith," under a sense of the 
truth of the gospel, and the conviction that it is good 
enough for anybody, and that no excuse need be made 
for preaching it; the certainty that men must hear 
the gospel and learn the way to God before they start 
at all. We must show the people that the Bible con- 
tains a revelation from God, the only revelation from 
God ; that it is complete, perfect and final, so far as 
relates to time ; that Jesus is divine ; that he is all 
that he is represented to be in the Bible ; that he is 
sustained by all the testimony necessary to convince 
candid people ; that no man comes to the Father but 
by him ; that no man comes by Moses now or any 
other ; that the Lord Jesus is the way, the truth and 
the life ; that the way set forth by him is the only 
way to the Father. 
We must not preach about faith, or repentance, or 



84 fcOOK OF GEMS. 

baptism; but preach the truth concerning the Lord 
Jesus, the Christ, which, when heard, and received 
into good and honest hearts, produces faith that leads 
to repentance, and immersion. Preaching faith never 
made a believer, and preaching repentance, never 
leads to repentance, of itself. In the same way, 
preaching on baptism, of itself never led any man 
to baptism. The great truth of all truth, that " Jesus 
is the Christ, the Son of the living God," lies at the 
bottom and puts all the balance in motion. Jesus, 
the Anointed, full of grace and truth, is the supreme 
authority. The first thing, first in order and first in 
importance, is the work of bringing the Lord before 
men and preparing them to regard him ; to recognize 
his authority and become willing to follow him — be 
led by him. Till this is done, it is useless to tell men 
what he says, or what he commands. Men must be 
convinced that he has authority to command, and that 
they are bound to submit to him or be rejected by him 
forever. 

In presenting the claims of the Lord Messiah, we 
must clear the way of all rubbish, all written and 
unwritten traditions of men, all doctrines and com- 
mandments of men, all rule and authority lording it 
over the heritage of God ; all creeds and councils of 
men, all religious bodies and establishments Laving 
no divine authority ; all usurpations and encroach- 
ments on the prerogatives of the Lord Jesus; all 
religious names and titles, forms and ceremonies, hav- 
ing no precept or example in Scripture ; all sects and 
sectarianism — all these must be swept away,- and the 
supreme and absolute authority of the Lord restored. 
The law of God itself, as found on the pages of the 



£00K OF GEMS. 85 

inspired Scriptures, must be restored to the people of 
God. There must be no compromise of truth with 
error, the kingdom of God with any thing else, the 
law of God with any other law. The law of God 
must he maintained as tlie law, the supreme and 
absolute law, and all other religious law must be set 
aside as law and repudiated. The union of the peo- 
ple of God must be maintained, defended and con- 
tinually advocated, as right in itself and divinely 
required. 

As a religious body, the work we have undertaken 
has not changed, but is the same now as it was forty 
years ago, as manifestly right as ever. "We have 
undertaken to restore the gospel to the people; the 
ancient order of things ; the religion of Christ itself, 
as it came from the Lord. We have gone up to prim- 
itive ground, apostolic ground, where the first followers 
of the Lord stood, and aim to practice in all things, 
as they did; have all things as they did; have all 
things as they had — the faith, the practice, and the 
worship, without anything added or taken away. The 
Lord has blessed the undertaking with most wonder- 
ful success. From five to six hundred thousand have 
heard, believed and been called together, and united 
on apostolic ground — made unspeakably happy in the 
Lord. We have been made free, in the highest sense, 
from all the trammels and fetters of men, from sins, 
from all error and superstition, and are servants of the 
Lord. 

We have now a plain work — simply the work of the 
Lord and no other. We have nothing to preach but 
the gospel, nothing to believe but the truth of God, 
nothing to do but the will of God, and nothing to hope 



86 BOOK OF GE^IS. 

for only what is promised in the word of God. Our 
work is not new and untried, but old, well tried, and 
nothing can stand before us. We have truth and right- 
eousness to maintain — sin and the world to oppose. 
We can make no change only at our peril — no depart- 
ure without losing all. We started simply to be the 
people of God, and to give ourselves unreservedly to 
the Lord. We can not turn away from God, from 
Christ, from the gospel, from the law of God, from the 
Church of God and the people of God, without utter 
ruin. We can not turn away from the religion of 
Christ itself and not be lost. We have nothing else. 
Shall we, then, hold on to our God, to our Lord Jesus 
the Christ, to our Bible, the gospel and the law of 
God for the saints ? Shall we hold on to the entire reve- 
lation from God to man in all its parts and as a whole ? 
Most unequivocally the great masses among us intend, 
by the grace of God, to do this. 

We need not stop to count members, to see whether 
it will be popular or unpopular, whether a majority 
are going on, or going back. Every true man is going 
on, and is intending to stand with every other true 
man and fight the good fight of faith. We stop not 
to see how many or how few are going ahead, nor how 
many are turning back. We would rather have been 
saved with the few in the ark than lost with the many 
who were drowned in the flood ; to have been with the 
few who crossed Jordan than with the many who fell 
in the wilderness, and would rather be with the few 
that shall find the narrow way and pass the straight 
gate to the enjoyment of life, than to be with the 
many who tread the broad way that leads to destruc- 
tion. We are now making the record on which these 



BOOK OF GEMS. 87 

great matters will turn. Let us enter the field this 
year in the faith, with more determination than ever, 
and push the cause at every point ; stand up all along 
the lines of the King's army, every man in his place, 
presenting an unbroken front to the enemy, and 
unitedly move forward on the opposing ranks before 
us with a persistence, decision and determination that 
will command respect. Encourage the true and 
valiant, strengthen the weak and feeble-minded, stand 
by the faint-hearted and comfort them. Let there be 
no sympathizers with the enemy, none scheming 
mutiny, none demoralizing the forces, no deserters and 
no cowards. All stand firm and true, and move on 
in faith, " the full assurance of faith," with power and 
courage, and the Lord of hosts will be our Lord — the 
King of saints will be our King. Let all men see that 
we have a right cause, and that we know it is right, 
and that we never intend to give it up, but that we in- 
tend to fill the world with the doctrine of the cross, 
make the Bible the power in this country. It is the 
book, the one book, the only book, setting forth the 
one religion for all peoples on all the face of the 
earth, and for all time. We can admit no rival to that 
book, nor any other that subverts or sets it aside, but 
are the settled and determined enemies to all others 
as divine authority. It is the supreme and the abso- 
lute authority. Rally to the book, men of God, and 
stand by it. You have the book that all admit to be 
right. Be true to it and show yourselves worthy of 
it, and the God of peace will be with you. 



88 BOOK OF GEMS. 



WE ARE A MISSIONARY PEOPLE. 



Tj?T will not do to conclude that we are not a " mis- 
; sionary people." It is useless to reason against 
I facts. That we have risen, and, in opposition to 
the established bodies of people in the different par- 
ties in this country, successfully planted the cause in 
the best parts of the country and among the most 
effective and intelligent people, and, in less than two- 
thirds of a century, made it one of the most formidable 
and powerful bodies in the land, and swelled the num- 
bers above that of any Protestant parties in the 
United States, excepting the Baptists and Methodists, 
is now a matter of fact. This has been done and is 
now in history. A people " not a missionary people," 
and not an evangelizing people, have never done the 
like of this. We are to-day going ahead and spread- 
ing more rapidly than any people in this country that 
depend on turning people to the Lord to augment their 
numbers. We say nothing about a people that count 
their infants as members of the church, and exclude 
nobody for disorder. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 89 



RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS. 



'HE resurrection of Lazarus was like the healing of 
the sick, giving sight to the blind, and other 
miraculous benefits, only temporary. They were 
only restored to health in their mortal state, and liable 
to be afflicted again. The resurrection of Lazarus was 
only his recovery from death for the time being, and 
he was liable to die again. No doubt he did die again. 
But Jesus rose to die no more. Death has no more do- 
minion over him. Those thus raised up temporarily, 
or simply raised up to what they were before they 
died, were not counted where Christ is spoken of as 
u the first-fruits of them that slept," "the first-born from 
the dead," etc. They were raised to immortality and 
died no more. The body was sown a mortal body, 
but raised immortal, or raised to die no more. 

This, we presume, is the solution of the matter, 
though but little can be said, with any point, for or 
against it. It is, however, the ground on which we 
satisfy our own mind. It is one of the matters left a 
little obscure, and but one on which nothing of impor- 
tance depends. The view we take of it obviates any 
apparent discrepancy between the passages above 
referred to. The word "begotten," in " the first-begot- 
ten from the dead," should have been born, as the 
same original word is elsewhere. A bare resurrection 
only raised a man to what he was before he died, and 
left him as liable to death as he was before he died ; 



90 BOOK OF GEMS. 

but the resurrection of Christ and those who rose after 
he rose was more than this. The body was sown a 
a mortal body, but raised immortal, or to die no more. 
It was a complete and final deliverance from the grave 
and from death — the final triumph over death and him 
who has the power of death. 



FINE CLOTHES. 



L! 




^j^ PREACHER pays a poor compliment to his 
brain when he tries to attract public attention, 
as a preac7ier, with fine clothes. A dancing 
master can vie with him in that line, whether the fine 
clothes are paid for or not. In the same way the 
preacher that must have a gorgeous temple, like 
Romanists and pagans, to attract the people and draw 
them out, and his choir of singers and organ, to dis- 
course music for the saints, pays a poor compliment 
to his brain and his ability as a preacher, and a poorer 
compliment to the worshippers who have to be thus 
drawn out. It is virtually a surrender to the world, 
and an acknowledgement on the part of the preacher, 
that he has no confidence in the gospel, or his ability 
to preach to attract the attention of the people, draw 
them out, or turn them to God when they are drawn out. 
The church that resorts to such artifices to draw the 
people out, virtually acknowledges that she has no 
influence to draw the people out ; that the preacher 



BOOK OF GEMS. 91 

has no influence to draw them ont ; that their gospel 
and worship have no power to draw them ont; but 
they have found out what will draw them out. A 
fine temple of show, extravagance and folly ; a popu- 
lar choir, an organ, ice cream, strawberry festivals, 
musical concerts, church fairs, etc., etc. These will 
draw. Certainly they will. But what becomes of the 
preacher, the gospel, the worship and the church? 
What becomes of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, 
and all that is divine ? 

Christ had not " where to lay his head." What 
does that prove? Not that his followers should not 
have where to lay their heads, or that preachers 
should not; but, if following him and serving him 
should reduce them to such destitution that they 
would not have where to lay their heads, they should 
bear it patiently and not murmer, remembering that 
their Lord and Master had not where to lay his head. 

" Christ traveled on foot and preached." What 
does that prove — that preachers must always travel 
on foot? Not at all. The Lord did not always travel 
on foot. What then ? That a preacher should travel 
on foot if need be. We have traveled on foot to preach 
and would do it again before we would give up preach- 
ing. We, therefore, take the cars, steamboat, stage, 
private conveyance, any means most convenient. 



92 BOOK OF GEMS. 



SUBTLETIES ABOUT IMMERSION. 




fj UT, now, why this constant higgling over immer- 
sion f Why this continual getting up some kind 
of smoke about it, mist or confusion ? It is the 
right thing — the precise thing the Lord commanded. 
"Why, then, try to get up confusion about where it was 
obtained? Why not condemn faith because we did 
not obtain it from the right people ? It is the right 
thing, but then a man obtained it in a sectarian church. 
Ought he not to throw it aside, and obtain faith from 
the right source ? Then, where did a man get the gos- 
pel ? Did he get it in a sectarian church ? Must he 
therefore throw it aside ? Where did he get his Bible ? 
Must he throw it away because he got it from secta- 
rians. There is but one safe rule in all this, and that 
is to hold on to that which came from the Lord, the 
right things, no matter where we found them. 

We have not set out merely to see how radical we 
can be ; to see how far we can differ from all men, but 
to separate the human from the divine — that which did 
not come from God from that which did ; and when we 
find a man with the right book — the Bible — we accept 
it without inquiring where he obtained it. When we 
find a man with the gospel of Christ, we accept it, no 
matter where he obtained it. If he has the right repen- 
tance we accept it without any regard to where he 
obtained it. In the same way in regard to the immer- 
sion and everything else. Has he the right things — 
the things of God? 



BOOK OF GEMS. 93 

Why start these subtleties about immersion, and 
confuse the public mind in regard to it ? Why not get 
up difficulties about the prayers, the communion, the 
repentance, the faith, or something else ? We are not 
trying how many difficulties we can find, but trying 
to clear the way, and show all men that there is a safe 
and practical way to union, to oneness and happiness, 
both here and hereafter. We desire to emerge out of 
the darkness, confusion and misunderstandings of our 
times, and walk in the clear light of heaven. What- 
ever is right we accept, and whatever is not right we 
aim to set it right. That which has gone before our 
time is beyond our reach, and we leave that to the 
Judge of all the earth, who will do right. We desire 
to open the way for the living and those yet to come. 
Let us study the things that are practical and that 
work for peace, and the Lord will open our way to the 
highest usefulness and happiness in this life, and to all 
he has for the redeemed in the life to come. 



94 BOOK OF GEMS. 



ALL THINGS COMMON. 



^HE community of goods or common stock was a 
voluntary thing and not required, as is clear from 
the language of Peter to Ananias and Sapphira. 
Alluding to the possession he sold and the proceeds 
of the sale he said : " While it remained was it not 
thine own ? and after it was sold was it not in thine 
own power ? " Acts v. 4. There was no compulsion to 
do what he pretended he was doing — that is, giving the 
whole — no law requiring it. This case appears to have 
ended the whole affair. We find no more account of 
it, but clear allusions to liberality, to the rich and poor, 
etc., showing that it was not continued. There is no 
question but that some of the first Christians received 
the impression that the coming of the Lord, the resur- 
rection of the dead and the end of the world were at 
hand ; and the unbounded love of the gospel inspired 
in their hearts for God and man led them to regard 
their possessions as nothing. They did not believe 
they would need them, nor did they see the state of 
things that would result from their course. 

Not only so, but there may have been a providence 
in it, as their city was soon to be destroyed and they 
" led away captive among all nations." The main 
thing we need is the fact that it is not required of us. 
It ended at once and was not enjoined nor continued. 



fcOOK OF GEMS. 95 



DELUDED. 




E can not conceive how people could be more 
completely deluded, than to be so turned away 

Y^ from the promise of God, than when the Lord 
says, "He who believes and is immersed shall be 
saved" he can not rely on the words, " sliall be saved" 
but can rely on an uncertain class of feelings reached 
in an exciting meeting without a promise of the Lord. 
The apostle commands inquirers, "Repent, and be 
baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus 
Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Spirit." Here is a sure promise 
from God : " You shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit." These people can not or will not rely on this 
promise, but will rely on a peculiar state of feelings 
without one shadow of evidence that the feelings are 
from the Lord, or intended to assure any of pardon. 

Members of the church should read their Bibles in 
their families and to their children, and worship with 
them, and teach them what worship means, and if they 
do not do it they will be held responsible in the great 
day. We must never stop but cry aloud and spare 
not, till this ignorance is out of the land. We exhort 
brethren, no matter where they may be scattered, to 
read the Bible, explain it to your neighbor, and be not 
poor, helpless creatures waiting for somebody to send 
you a preacher, but go at it and read the Scriptures, 
and show your neighbor how to read them, and where 



S6 £00& OF GEMS. 

to read, to learn the way of salvation. Circulate other 
reading calculated to show them the good and right 
way. Be alive and awake to the work — read about it, 
pray over it, and do all in your power to counteract 
ignorance and superstition. 



•» •+• 



REFORMATION A SUCCESS. 



jjT is true, also, that " God's word, as the only rule of 
faith and practice, is as much set at naught by the 
religious world to-day as it was fifty years ago," 
and more too ; and there is nothing so unpopular with 
the masses of the people, and some called brethren, as 
precisely the apostolic way ; and the Reformation is 
not a failure either. Our reformatory movement was 
right, and is still right. It needs no modification, but 
needs to be faithfully and honestly carried out. JSTo 
reformatory movement can ever get in ahead of it. It 
went back to the divine fountain to find the truth, and 
not something like it, that could be proved by it. It 
went back to the Bible itself, and not to something like 
it, or something that can be proved by it. It went 
back to the religion of Christ itself, and not to some- 
thing like it, or something that can be proved by it. 
This was no failure. The attempt was to go back to 
the Lord himself ; to his own Book, his own religion ; 
and those who attempted this, and did it, made no 
failure. They found the Lord, his Book, and his relig- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 97 

ion, and found the salvation of the Lord. There was 
no failure in all this. This movement has "been in the 
world about sixty years, or about half as long as 
Noah's mission lasted. Noah found the salvation of 
the Lord for himself and family. There was no failure 
in his case. 



i» « • 



WHAT WE ARE FOR. 




E are for the kingdom of God, and for all that 
pertains to it, but not for the kingdom of the 
^f clergy, either as manifested in the Papacy or 
among Protestants ; nor are we enlisted to get up a 
new Mngdom of clergy. We will never give our 
influence to establish any new kingdom of clergy, or 
recognize any old one. The people of God are free. 
They do not belong to the clergy. The congregations 
of the Lord are free, and not to be manacled down 
into human confederations and their great work ended 
in an insignificant sect. The day we agree to be 
banded together into some kind of general confedera- 
tion of congregations, under a conference, convention, 
or we care not what you call it, we become an insig- 
nificant sect, a denomination, a christian sect, and will 
be nothing more forever. Ichabod will be written on 
us. But that day will never come. Mark that. We 
hope that none among us wiil ever make the experi- 



98 BOOK: Otf GEMS. 

ment, but if they do, they will simply land in faction, 
to dwindle away and die. 

But, we have come to a crisis, and, it is predicted, 
we will soon come to nothing if we do not do some- 
thing. We intend to do something and are doing 
something, but not forming ecclesiastical confedera- 
tions to bind burdens on the necks of the people, nor 
scheming to get clerical power. We have come to no 
crisis. The few scheming men that have so fully de- 
monstrated their aim, have come to a crisis and to a 
complete defeat. But that will not produce any per- 
ceptible jar in the movements of the hosts of Israel. 
That is a mere circumstance. The Lord's hosts are in 
motion and the work is going on. Why stand with a 
human figment in view, when we have stupendous 
matters of fact before our eyes ? Look into the col- 
umns of our publications and see the reports that 
come up every week from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Oceans, and from the North of the Dominion of Can- 
ada to the G-ulf of Mexico, and tell us what of the 
crisis ? The men in the field at work have come to no 
crisis and to no panic. The Lord of hosts is with 
them, and they are not to be turned aside from their 
work. 

Read the accounts of churches established every 
week, the houses for worship built, the preachers 
coming over from the ranks of Babylon, as well as 
private members, and the vast acquisition to their 
numbers from the world, and then tell us what of the 
crisis! Go into the field and go to work, every man. 
in faith and hope and love, and win souls to Christ, 
and the Lord of hosts will be with you, and good 
brethren will come up to the help of the Lord and 



BOOK OF GEMS. 99 

support yon. But if we continue the schemes that 
are now confessedly failures, or devise new ones, we 
will dry up the fountains of liberality till we can do 
nothing. The children of God will give money to 
convert and save sinners, but they will not give money 
to build up a Merarcliy. 



A SUGGESTION. 



i 



E are not inattentive to the suggestion that we 
are wearing ourselves out in holding protracted 

>J f meetings, and that we should devote ourself 
wholly to the management of the Review. We have 
thought of this matter much, both before and since we 
saw the suggestion, and find it not so easy to determine 
what ought to be done. The tendency is to find pleas- 
ant positions, occupy them, and go on easily and 
smoothly ; to settle down and preach for churches, get 
professorships in colleges or high-schools, edit papers 
and evangelize the world by proxy. In other words, 
the popular idea is not to go but to send some one to 
preach the gospel. If we were to sit down in our edi- 
torial chair, at home, and write the most stirring 
articles about the great work of evangelizing the 
world and urge men to go, we fear they would inquire, 
"Why do you not go ?" We aim to be an example— 
to go ourself, as we urge others to do. We see no 
other way to give force to the appeal to others to go. 

The demand for preaching is such that we can see 



100 BOOK OF GEMS. 

no possible way to excuse any man that can go. We 
have, therefore, rather concluded to go while we can. 

When we shall go hence, we desire that any who 
may refer to us may see that while we said go we also 
went. 

We are perfectly aware that we could, in some 
respects, make the paper better to devote our entire 
attention to it; but, that we could, in every sense, 
give it the spirit and power that we can when we are 
in the field and among the people continually, we still 
hold in doubt. We desire to do all we possibly can 
for the cause, while it is to-day. 



»—*•- 



ANNIHILATION-FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 



f *ie 



HERE is nothing about " the final annihilation of 
the wicked," in the Bible, nor " the final annihi- 
lation " of anything. The talk about the " anni- 
hilation of the wicked," no matter whether " final " or 
not, is mere outside talk, as nothing of the kind is 
found in Scripture. We can see why a man should 
want information about a country or a place where he 
intends or expects to go, but why any man should 
always be talking about a country or place to which 
he does not intend or expect to go, we never could see. 
There is one thing clear, and that is, that any term 
used in Scripture to describe or express the destiny of 
the wicked beyond the judgment, is such as to deter 



BOOK OF GEMS. 101 

any man from desiring it, no matter whether figura- 
tive or literal. It is equally certain that no man will 
ever be saved by explaining to him all about the 
meaning of the terms applied to the destiny of the 
wicked, nor will a constant study of these terms, and 
talking about them, qualify any man for heaven. 

Some of these terms are figurative and some of them 
are literal. In some instances it may be difficult to 
determine whether a term is literal or figurative, but 
in some it is not difficult. It is clear, however, that 
whatever terms are used, they all apply to the same 
things. Such a phrase as " beaten with many stripes," 
we doubt not, is figurative, and so is " gnashing of 
teeth." But "punishment" is literal, no matter in 
what it consists. No matter what term is applied to 
it, nor whether literal or figurative, the idea of " pun- 
ishment" is always in it, always present. No matter 
how they will be punished, what the means of punish- 
ment, or of what the punishment will consist, there is 
still the reality — the punishment. This is what the 
Lord calls " everlasting," — " everlasting punishment." 
See Matthew xxv. 46. " These shall go away uito ever- 
lasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal." 
In the original we have the same word (aionion) for 
"eternal "and "everlasting." In the same sentence 
the Lord uses the same word to express the duration 
of the punishment and the duration of the life of the 
righteous, and there is as much reason, and no more, 
for concluding that the " eternal life " shall terminate, 
as that the " everlasting punishment " of the wicked 
shall cease. At the same time that the righteous enter 
into life, the wicked " go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment," and the same word, in the same sentence, in 



102 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the lips of our Lord, expresses the duration of both ; 
and we have just as much respect for an expositor of 
Scripture that undertakes to prove that the state of 
glory shall cease to exist as for the expositor that 
undertakes to prove that the punishment shall cease 
to exist, no matter whether he be called Restorationist, 
Universalist, Soul-sleeper or what. 

The man that thinks of " eternal life " merely as 
eternal conscious existence, has no adequate concep- 
tion of the meaning of the term. It is used to express 
the entire state of glory, with all that pertains to it. 
In the same sense the phrase " second death " is used 
to express the state of perdition, including all that is 
in it. The terms " saved "and " lost " are used in the 
same sense. " Saved " includes the entire inheritance 
of the saints ; all they shall have and enjoy. "Lost" 
includes all that shall be inflicted on the condemned ; 
the entire state and all that is in it. 

Mortality is never applied to the soul of man in 
Scripture, nor is immortality. We never read of a 
mortal or an immortal soul, nor of a soul being made 
mortal or immortal. Mortality and immortality are 
applied to the body and not to the soul. The body is 
mortal, but in the resurrection will be made immortal. 

It is infinitely wiser to teach men how to keep out of 
hell, while they are out, than to teach them how to get 
out, aftei they are in hell, or to prove that they will 
cease to exist. We do not think much of men that 
study how to pick locks and escape from prisons ; but 
we esteem the men who teach how to keep out of pris- 
ons by avoiding the crimes on account of which men 
are imprisoned. There is no benevolence in tampering 
with the divine penalties in any way, either in out- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 103 

and-out denying the existence of any punishment after 
death, or modifying it. The Bible contains its clear 
discrimination between the righteous and the wicked, 
and unequivocally declares that it shall not be with 
him that does not serve God as with him that serves 
him. It is not in vain to serve God. It would have 
been better for Judas if he had not been born, as 
clearly stated by our Lord. There is a sorer punish- 
ment than death without mercy. There is an " ever- 
lasting punishment," and no sound learning can make 
this mean everlasting non-existence. Non-existence is 
not punishment, else we were alwaj^s in punishment 
till we were brought into existence. There is a pun- 
ishment where the worm dies not, and the fire is not 
quenched. There is no more evidence that this will 
ever cease to exist than that the state of glory itself 
shall cease to exist. 



• >- M 9 



DESIGN OF MIRACLES. 



o^HvACLES are necessary to give a new institu- 
tion and confirm it to the world, but when it is 
(^y given and confirmed, no miracle is needed to 
perpetuate it. It required miracles to confirm the 
mission of the apostles and prove to the world that 
they were from God. So would it require miracles 
now to confirm the missions of any other man or set 
of men claiming to be specially called and sent as the 
apostles were, and in default of any miracles, we do 



104 BOOK OF GEMS. 

not believe any men are now called and sent, as they 
were. The divine attestations that established the 
apostolic mission, among the people of their time, 
against their established religion, all their prejudices 
and every worldly consideration, was committed to 
record, and will establish it to all the generations to 
come. The same testimony that proved a man guilty 
of murder one hundred years ago, will prove him 
guilty forever. It does not require that witnesses con- 
tinue to be sworn and testify to prove it to other 
people. In the same way, the testimony that proved 
the divinity of Christ, at the beginning of his reign, 
has been committed to the record and will prove it 
forever. There is no new testimony, and none is 
needed. Those who lived in the time when the Lord 
was on earth, saw him, or saw those who did see him, 
or, at least, many of them did ; they saw many of his 
wonderful works, or many who did see them; they 
heard the prophecies uttered by him, or saw those who 
did hear them, but did not live to see the fulfillment. 
We did not see him, nor witness his miracles, nor 
hear him utter the prophecies alluded to, but we now 
have the faithful records of history in which we find 
accounts of the fulfillment of his wonderful predic- 
tions extending down through the ages, for more than 
eighteen centuries. We do not, therefore, need a repe- 
tition of the miracles, or the prophecies, or their 
fulfillment. They stand there, firm as the everlasting 
hills, serving God's eternal purpose; confirming the 
divine mission of his Son, and the New Covenant, of 
which he is the Mediator. 

When did these miracles cease ? They ceased when 
the apostles died, and all on whom they laid their 



BOOK OF GEMS. 105 

hands. Every pretense of a miracle from then till 
now, has been nothing but a lying pretense. Not a 
gennine miracle has been done. 

We have in the Bible the clear statement that the 
spiritual gifts — the supernatural gifts — would be 
superseded by " a more excellent way ; " that tongues 
should cease, prophecies should fail, and knowledge — 
the supernatural gift of knowledge — should be done 
away. In accordance with these statements, these 
gifts have ceased, and thus fulfilled Paul's statement, 
and proved that the Spirit of God was in him. The 
eternal Spirit saw, and, through him, foretold that 
these gifts should cease, as he did in the Apostle 
John, at the close of Revelation, the conclusion of the 
sacred canon, that nothing more was to be added, and 
nothing taken away. This ended the revelations from 
God. We have had not one word since, and will not 
have till the end of time. 



• > ■ « < i 



CAIN'S WIFE. 




E do not know "who was Cain's wife," only that 
she was Mrs. Cain. We do not know that it is 
Y^ of any more importance to us who Cain's wife 
was than who the wife of any other man was or is. 
We must not fall out with the Bible because it does 
not gratify our curiosity in giving us information on 
many little particulars of no consequence to us. We 
do not know who President Grant's wife was. We 3 no 



106 BOOK OF GEMS. 

doubt, could easily have found out, but it was of no 
importance to us to know, and we have never tried to 
learn. Yet it is of as much importance to us, and as 
much in reference to our salvation, as to know who 
Cain's wife was. We can not give information that is 
not in the Bible. The Bible does not tell who Cain's 
wife was. 



' »■ ■*! 



WHAT IS ESSENTIAL. 




E single not out baptism and make it essential, 
nor conversion — as a whole — and make it essen- 
^ tial ; but we single out what the Lord requires^ 
not only in regard to conversion, or making Disciples, 
but in regard to the life or the practice required of 
those in Christ, in which they are to continue after 
they have turned to the Lord ; everything in the law 
of God, and maintain that it is all essential. The will 
of God is essential, and that which is not in the will 
of God is not essential. The will of God, or what is 
required in the law of God, must be done. That which 
is not in the will of God, or is no part of the law of 
God, is not to be done at all, or not to be introduced 
as religion, or any part of it, nor is the peace of the 
church to be interrupted with it. The only way to 
avoid the trouble about the unesseniials is simply to 
leave them out — to have nothing to do with them. 
What regard can a man have for the welfare of the 



£00£ OF OEMS. 107 

Church, the peace % of the people of God, and the 
triumphs of the faith, who will not only have himself 
what is not required, not essential, and what he 
admits is not required, hut force it upon others ? 



•»•■ « • 



WHAT WE KNOW IS RIGHT. 




!lu 



E know it is right to " Let the word of Christ 
dwell in us richly ; and with all wisdom teach 
and admonish each other by psalms and hymns 
and spiritual songs ; singing with gratitude in our 
hearts to the Lord " — to " he filled with the Spirit ; 
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and 
spiritual songs ; singing and making melody in our 
hearts to the Lord." This can be done, and we know 
it is right ; but that a man can make melody in his 
heart to the Lord "with an organ," a fiddle, banjo, 
clarionet, lute, fife or jew's-harp, we do not know, nor 
do we believe it. We want to do what is written, and 
enjoin it on others, to do it. What is not written we 
do not want to do. When the Lord so minutely de- 
scribes how we are to do anything, we want to do it in 
that way. The way he ' prescribes will do the thing 
commanded; some other way might not do what is 
commanded at all. 



108 BOOK OF GEMS. 



INFANT SIN-INFANT SALVATION. 



TpN" our generation, a vast amount of ink and "breath 
m is wasted in writing and preaching about infant 
°[ sin, infant salvation, idiots, etc. There is one 
thing certain about it, and that is, that our writing 
and preaching about infant sin, infant salvation, 
Christ dying for infants and idiots, never saved an in- 
fant, an idiot, or anybody else. "We do not, by our 
writing and preaching about them, make them sinful 
or righteous. It is simply writing and preaching 
about them, and not to tliem, and certainly can do them 
no good. It is purely curious and speculative, pleas- 
ant for men and women to talk about, who will not 
love and obey the Savior themselves. 

There are some things so clear in themselves that 
all can see them on the mere mention of them. Infants 
and idiots can not understand, believe, receive, reject, 
or obey the gospel. They can not repent, pray, 
praise God or rejoice. The gospel is simply not 
addressed to them. Infants and idiots are plainly and 
simply not gospel subjects. How are they then to be 
saved ? What salvation do you mean ? Salvation from 
sin, do you say ? What sin ? They never sinned, and 
have no actual sin, as the school-men style it. They 
are under no guilt. They never transgressed any law, 
human or divine. They never rejected Christ nor the 
gospel. They have no personal sin or guilt ; no per- 
sonal condemnation, and need no personal justifica- 



BOOK OF GEMS, 109 

tion. The justification we receive in believing and 
obeying the gospel, is from our own sins, actual sins, 
sins we have committed ourselves. Infants have no 
sins of this kind and need not this justification. The 
remission of sins received, in turning to God, is for 
sinners; those who, in their own persons have com- 
mitted sins, and not for infants, who have never 
sinned — who have no sins of this kind. They have 
no guilt, no condemnation, and need no salvation from 
" old sins," as Peter has it, or past sins. They have 
no sins of this kind. 

But, then, this is only a partial view of the matter. 
We all need something more than this. We need 
another salvation beyond pardon, or salvation from 
actual sins ; we need to be ransomed from the grave, 
raised from the dead ; our bodies changed, glorified, 
immortalized. The infant and idiot need this. This 
salvation is future. " As in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive." " By one man, sin 
entered into the world." " In Adam's fall, we sinned 
all." But we are not under the guilt of Adam's sin ; 
only under the consequences. These consequences 
came on us without our will, volition or consent ; with- 
out our action. We had no power to avert the 
calamity. It came on us unconditionally. The first 
Adam, without our volition or action, involved us in 
it. The second Adam, the Lord from heaven, uncon- 
ditionally removes it from us. Without our volition 
or action, he takes it away. The first Adam involved 
us in death. Our turning to God, becoming christians 
and obtaining remission of sins, does not save us from 
death. We all die the same as those not Christians. 
After we die, the best of saints, we need the same ran- 



110 BOOK OF GEMS. 

som from the grave, as infants do. To be made alive ; 
to be changed, immortalized and glorified. This is 
the salvation from Adam's sin, or the consequences of 
it, and this is needed for the saints and infants alike. 

" If one died for all, then we are all dead." I. Cor. 
v. 14. This includes infants and idiots. Christ then 
died for all. " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
shall all be made alive." The same " all " that die in 
Adam shall be made alive in or by Christ. Christ, 
then, died for all, — all that die in Adam, — and will 
make the same " all " alive, or raise them from the 
dead. He, then, in dying for all, died for infants and 
idiots, and secured for them resurrection from the 
dead, and they need to prepare them for the world to 
come. 

They can receive no gospel, and need none ; they 
can not repent, and need no repentance ; they can not 
pray or commune, and need no prayer or communion ; 
they need no religion, and are simply not subjects of 
religion. They need no church. The gospel, repen- 
tance and remission of sins, the church and all that is 
in it, is for pardoned persons — those washed from 
their sins — the redeemed by the blood of Christ, and 
not for those who never sinned, had no guilt, and 
needed no pardon — those who have no faith and 
know not the Savior. 



BOOK OF GEMS. Ill 



OUR AUTHORITATIVE RELIGION. 



IP 




E have not time to elaborate it now, but we can 
state, that there is one religion that is the 
^ supreme and absolute authority — that is simply 
the religion of Christ. There is nothing but human 
authority in any other. That religion presents a 
heaven and a hell, the one as certain as the other. It 
is not to be tampered with, nor trifled with. It offers 
life and threatens death. It has justification and con- 
demnation, its rewards and punishments. It has God 
in it, Christ and the Holy Spirit, prophets, apostles 
and martyrs. Men submit when they come to it, and 
yield to it, in doing which they submit and yield to its 
Divine Author. The secrets of men will be judged by 
Jesus Christ according to the gospel. If we expect to 
enter the everlasting city, we must listen to the Bible. 



11-2 BOOK OF GEMS. 




REFLECTIONS FOR DANCERS. 

HILE we were in Carlisle, Kentucky, in May, we 
learned that Bro. Reynolds, who was engaged 
in an interesting meeting a few miles off, had 
announced that he would preach on dancing on a 
morning. As we had no appointment for preaching 
that morning, Bro. Jones proposed to take us to the 
place to hear Bro. Reynolds. On arriving we found a 
good audience in attendance, and Bro. Reynolds pre- 
pared for his work. He pressed us to address the 
people, but we declined on the ground that he had an- 
nounced his subject, the people had come to hear him, 
and that we were interested in the matter and desired 
to hear him. He then entered upon his work. 

Bro. Reynolds is a self-made man, and not a man 
not made at all, but made in the genuine sense, an 
effective and telling man. He is a cool, deliberate 
and pointed speaker ; speaks with perfect ease, and 
interests an audience from first to last. He is simply 
himself, and imitates no one. We decided before he 
was near through his discourse to write out an epitome 
of it, but one thing after another has hindered us till 
weeks have passed, and we took not a note, and we 
fear now that our article will be but little more than 
an article about the discourse. 

MOTTO. 

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 
I. Thess. v. 21. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 113 

This means to test or try all things, consider their 
claim, and determine which are good. Hold that fast. 

Exod. xv. 20, we find an account of dancing : "And 
Miriam the prophetess, and the sister of Aaron, took 
a timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out 
after her with timbrels and with dances." Several 
things are to be noticed in this dancing. 1. It was in 
daylight. 2. The women alone danced. 3. It was a 
religions exercise, in rejoicing over their wonderful 
deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the pursuit of 
their enemies, and to the praise and honor of God. 
They were religious people, praising and honoring 
God. 

Exod. xxxii. 19, we have an account of dancing: 
"And it came to pass as soon as he " (Moses) " came 
nigh to the camp, that he saw the calf, and the danc- 
ing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the 
tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the 
mount." We are not informed who danced in this 
instance, but the whole procedure was idolatrous. 
The shouting and dancing were in devotion to the 
molten calf. 

Judges xi. 34 : " And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto 
his house, and, behold, his daughter came to meet him, 
with timbrels and with dances, and she was his only 
child ; beside her he had neither son nor daughter." 
1. This dancing was in daylight. 2. One female 
danced alone. 3. She simply danced in joy to meet 
her father, and her dance was soon followed with a 
terrible calamity. 

Judges xxi. 19-21 : " Then they said, Behold, there 
is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, yearly, in a place 
which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side 



114 BOOK OF GEMS. 

of the highway, that goeth up from Beth-el to She- 
chem, and on the south of Lebonah. Therefore they 
commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and 
lie in wait in the vineyards ; and see, and behold, if 
the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, 
then come you out of the vineyards, and catch you 
every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go 
to the land of Benjamin." This dancing was in day- 
light. The females alone danced. We are not told 
what the object of the dancing was. 

I. Sam. xviii. 6 : " And it came to pass, as they 
came, when David was returning from the slaughter 
of the Philistines, that the women came out of all the 
cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King 
Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of 
music." 1. This dancing was in daylight. 2. The 
women alone danced. 3. It was rejoicing in view of a 
special favor of God. 

I. Sam. xxx. 16 : " And when he had brought him 
down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the 
earth, eating, and drinking, and dancing, because of 
all the great spoil they had taken out of the land of 
the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. And 
David smote them from the twilight even unto the 
evening of the next day; and there escaped not a 
man of them, save four hundred young men, who rode 
upon camels, and fled." In this case the dancing was 
with eating and drinking, and for amusement. It was 
revelling. They were not religious people, but the 
wicked, and the calamity soon came upon them. 

II. Sam. vi. 12-14 : " And it was told King David, 
saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed- 
edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 115 

ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark 
of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of 
David with gladness. And it was so, that when they 
that bear the ark of the Lord, had gone six paces, he 
sacrificed oxen and failings. And David danced 
before the Lord with all his might ; and David was 
girded with a linen epod." This dancing was in day- 
light. David alone danced. It was a religious exer- 
cise, in devotion to the Lord. 

I. Chron. xv. 29 : " And it came to pass, as the ark 
of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, 
that Michal, the daughter of Saul, looking out at a 
window, saw King David dancing and playing, and 
she despised him in her heart." This dancing was in 
daylight. David alone danced. He danced as a re- 
ligious exercise. It was not dancing for amusement. 

Psalms cl. 4 : " Praise him with a timbrel and 
dance ; praise him with stringed instruments and 
organs." Also, Psalms cxlix. 3 : " Let them praise 
his name in the dance." This also is a religious exer- 
cise. 

Eccl. iii. 4 : "A time to weep, and a time to laugh ; 
a time to mourn, and a time to dance." We do not 
remember the point made on this. We have seen 
from the Scriptures already cited, that in the former 
ages, when they danced as a religious exercise, it was 
always in daylight, and in no case promiscuous danc- 
ing of men and women together, and the time for it was 
when the Lord had wrought some great deliverance or 
brought some signal, given some great victory. 

Job xxL 11-18 : " They send forth their little ones 
like a flock, and the children dance. They take the 
timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the 



116 BOOK OF GEMS. 

organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a 
moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say 
nnto God, Depart from ns ; for we desire not the knowl- 
edge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we 
should serve him ? and what profit should we have if 
we pray unto him?, Lo, their good is not in their 
hand ; the counsel of the wicked is far from me. How 
oft is the candle of the wicked put out ! and how oft 
cometh their destruction upon them ! God distribute th 
sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble before the 
wind, as chaff that the storm carrieth away." Here 
we have a terrible description of the dancers for pleas- 
ure, amusement ; of their godless character and utter 
ruin. 

Mark vi. 22 : " And when the daughter of the said 
Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and 
them that sat with him, the king said to the damsel, 
Ask of me whatever you will, and I will give it to you. 
And he swore to her, Whatever you shall ask of me, 
I will give to you, to the half of my kingdom. And 
she went forth and said to her mother, What shall I 
ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. 
And she came in straightway with haste to the king, 
and asked, saying, I will that you give me by and by 
in a charger the head of John the Baptist." Here we 
have a fine sample of the taste, the spirit and refine- 
ment of the dancer and her mother. What had John 
the Baptist done that his head should come off to 
gratify the mother of a dancing damsel? John had 
said, " It is not lawful for you." (Herod) " to have your 
brother's wife." This insulted Mrs. Herod, and she 
sought and obtained revenge through her dancing 
daughter and a rash vow of the king. What a reward 



BOOK OF GEMS. 117 

this for dancing and pleasing the king — the head of 
the best man in his kingdom, a prophet from God ! 
This was dancing for pleasure, for amusement. This 
dancing for amusement, pleasure, is revelling, and 
excludes from the kingdom. 

Gal. v. 21 : Now the works of the flesh are mani- 
fest, which are these : Adultery, fornication, unclean- 
ness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, vari- 
ance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such 
like ; of the which I tell you "before, as I have also told 
you in times past, that they who do such things shall 
not inherit the kingdom of God." Bro. Reynolds gave 
a definition of the word " revelling," and the original 
Greek word Jcomos, which it represents, which we have 
not at hand and do not recollect ; only that dancing 
for pleasure, amusement, with eating and drinking, is 
revelling, and they who do such things shall not inherit 
the kingdom of God. He also made a happy hit on 
the clause, " such like " — that is, "revellings and such 
like ; that it included the plays of folly, the innocent 
games for amusement, etc. 

We are sorry that we have forgotten so much of the 
comment and so many of the good points in the dis- 
course. It was in grand contrast with much that we 
have. He is not trying to determine how much folly 
and sin we can practice and still be saved, but how 
fully men and women can be saved from all folly and 
sin. The Lord strengthen his hands and the hands of 
every other man walking nobly in resistance against 
the demoralizing influences now upon us. 



118 BOOK Or GEMS. 



SPIRIT OF INDIFFERENCE. 



(6^ 



'HE worst difficulty there is to encounter is the gen- 
eral state of indifference. There is a general 
state of don't-careitiveness. The Galio feeling 
abounds. Of all the opponents the preacher of Christ 
has to contend with, there is none that we so much 
dread, as the man who cares for nothing — who is 
wholly indifferent — who scarcely has vitality enough 
to sit up in his pew, unless he can sleep sitting. There 
are men in these times, who by custom, mere habit, 
indifferently float along with the current to the place 
of worship, and sit, lean down, lie down, or lounge in 
an audience before a preacher, who seem to say, by 
every motion, every cuticle of the face, expression of 
the countenance and move of the eye, in thunder 
tones, to the discerning preacher, I do not care what 
you say — whether your doctrine is true or false. This 
discomfits the preacher. What can be done for a man 
who does not care ? What can a preacher do for a 
man whose spirit is so calloused and numbed as to be 
incapable of giving attention to a single discourse? 
What can be done for men who have so lost the love 
of the truth, all interest in it, and so unfeeling to all 
its appeals, as to sit before him who pleads its holy 
claims with earnestness, wholly inattentive? To such 
men the whole appears idle tales, a kind of dream or 
kind of dim vision. Many in this description, in 
church and out of it ? cannot be aroused from their 



BOOK OF GEMS. 119 

stupor, awakened from their slumbers and brought 
out from the almost impenetrable spell of thick dark- 
ness that envelopes them, by the efforts of any 
preacher. The thunders of Sinai would not do it. 
The melting strains of gospel love will not do it. 
Heaven's beneficence to man is all nothing to them. 
Many, in this generation, will never be awakened from 
this deep and awful slumber, and the thick darkness 
that surrounds them, till the voice of the archangel 
from heaven and the trumpet of God shall summon 
them to the judgment of the great day. 

An effort is demanded, such as we, as a people, have 
never made ; such as man has rarely made ; in any age, 
an equal to anything in the power of man to make, to 
awaken our cotemporaries from this terrible and fear- 
ful state of death. None but men who are in earnest 
can do anything in this work. Men who have no con- 
cern themselves, or who are nearly in the same pre- 
dicament, may deliver their little, dry and lifeless 
harangues, but they make no impression. Men must 
be fully alive, have the benevolence of God at 
heart, enter the work with the whole soul, and labor 
mightily for the Lord. We must feel the need of a 
great effort, to save man, maintain righteousness and 
restrain the world from sin, and our efforts must 
make men feel the necessity of such an effort. It is 
not necessary that the imagination should be wrought 
up, but merely that the people be made conscious of 
the reality, to move those in me reach of reason and 
argument. But, we defer approaching any other 
point, for a month. 



120 BOOK OF GEMS. 



APOLOGY FOR CREEDS. 




POLOGrY First. " It is not neccessaiy to make 
such an incessant war npon our creed ; it is just 
like the Bible ; it is all scriptural." In this case 
admitting, for the sake of argument, what is not true 
of any human creed, that it is "just like the Bible," 
we reply, that is useless, and will do no better than the 
Bible itself. If it is just like the Bible it will accom- 
plish nothing more than the Bible, and be just as 
deficient. Nothing can be gained by it ; nothing can 
be accomplished by it which the Bible itself could not 
accomplish, so that it must be utterly useless. In 
that case there can be no excuse for having it — not 
only so, but the person holding on to and contending 
for such a creed, is inexcusable on another account. 
To give up a creed just like the Bible, and take the 
Bible itself as a rule of faith and practice, a man 
would lose nothing, for he would find all his creed in 
the Bible. We insist, therefore, that one of the most 
inexcusable, unreasonable and unjustifiable positions 
a man can occupy, is to hold on to, contend for and 
insist that he can not do without a creed which he 
insists is just like the Jible, though he can have the 
Bible itself! The Bible will certainly accomplish all 
that any creed just like it can. 

Apology Second. " It is useless to be contending 
against our creed. It contains nothing that is not in 
the Bible. It is simply an abstract, epitome orabridg- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 121 

ment of Bible doctrine, so arranged as to "be conven- 
ient and show at a glance what we hold." This is 
quite a specions apology, and has succeeded in delud- 
ing and deceiving many persons, and silencing their 
consciences, and is, therefore, more especially deserv- 
ing of attention. This apology is dangerous because 
it acknowledges that the creed contains and sets forth 
what the party believes — its faith. Now, we assert, 
without hesitation, that any man who believes no more 
than is set forth in any human creed on earth, and will 
do no more than any human creed requires, has neither 
faith nor obedience enough to be acceptable with God. 
There is not a human creed on earth, that contains the 
whole Christian faith. Their faith is too narrow. 
"We have no confidence in epitomes, abstracts, or 
abridgments of the faith. Nothing less than the faith, 
the whole faith of Christ, is sufficient to meet the divine 
approbation. No man's faith not as broad as the 
Bible is broad enough for us. His faith must contain 
Moses and Jesus, the prophets of the Old Testament 
and the apostles of the New. There must be no 
abstracting, no epitomizing, no abridging. The man 
not willing to receive Christ, and the whole Christian 
faith, as God has set him and the faith forth, in 
the Holy Scriptures, is not a christian, and had better 
make no pretence to Christianity. We do not wish a 
man to come describing how he views every point of 
doctrine. We do not desire him to come declaring 
that he receives Christ as a Trinitarian or Unitarian, a 
Calvinist or an Arminian, but to come with a contrite 
spirit, avowing it as the desire of the heart, and his 
full determination, to receive Christ with all his heart, 
as -God has revealed him in the prophecies of the Old 
Testament and the apostolic preaching of the New. 



122 B00£ 0# GEMS. 

The advocate of a human creed says, he wants his 
creed to " show at a glance what we hold ! " Look 
oyer your creed, then, right carefully, and see what 
you hold, and look over the New Testament with the 
same care, and see what an amount it contains that 
you do .not hold, or that is not in your creed, and you 
will see that your creed is not a respectable skeleton — 
that it not only lacks the flesh, blood, muscles, arteries, 
veins, etc., of the body, but it lacks many of the bones 
and, what is vastly more, it lacks the life, the soul, the 
spirit. If it contains what you hold, much as precious 
as any part of the Christian faith, and as binding as 
any thing God has revealed, clearly and as explicitly 
laid down in the New Testament, is not contained in 
what you hold at all. Much of as precious truth as is 
contained in the Bible, a vast amount as clear to the 
children of God as anything contained in the Christian 
faith, an immense deal as consoling to the dying saint 
as any thing in the word of God, as any man who has 
ever looked must admit, is not found in any human 
creed. We say again, and can prove at almost any 
length, that there is not a human creed in the world 
that is a respectable skeleton, that is even a perceptible 
shadow of the Christian faith. Indeed, no creed 
appears to have been intended simply to set forth the 
Christian faith. It does not appear to be the object 
of any human creed to set forth the simple faith of 
Christ or Christianity. None of the creeds claim to 
be the Christian faith, the Cliristian confession, 
Christian discipline or Christian system, but one is 
" The Philadelphia Confession," another " The West- 
minster Confession," and a third " The Methodist Dis- 
cipline." The object of these books, and all of the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 123 

same kind, appears to "be more to set forth the views 
their authors had of certain points of doctrine, or their 
notions of these points, than to set forth the whole 
Christian faith itself. Their object is mnch more to 
show how the parties adopting them held certain points 
of doctrine, and to distinguish their views from some 
others, than to set forth the Christian faith. The 
creeds, then, are but little more than epitomes of men's 
views of certain points of Christian doctrine, their 
abridged understanding of these points. Now, the 
belief and reception of men's mews of the Christian 
faith will not save any man, much less the belief and 
reception of their mews of a few points of doctrine ; 
but to be saved, a man must believe and receive the 
Christian faith — the whole Christian faith itself 



» » » < m 




HEAR YE HIM. 

UT we want something binding." Look then, 
at the command accompanying this oracle, or 
confession, or immediately following it, if you 
desire something binding, or authoritative. We allude 
to the authoritative utterance, "Hear Him." God 
who made the worlds — God, who rules among the 
armies of heaven — who hurled angels down to hell for 
disobedience — whose voice shook the earth. God 
who holds the destinies of all the nations in his hand 
who " weighs the hills in a balance, and handles the 



124 BOOK OF GEMS. 

isles as a very little thing," in connection with the 
revelation of his Son, to all the nations of the earth, 
with all the majesty of his authority, says, "Hear 
Him ;" give him audience ; regard him ; bow to him ; 
follow him ; be guided by him ; honor and obey him 
forever. How utterly futile and insignificant the 
attempt of puny and erring mortals to add anything 
to the great oracle, or confession, in which is concen- 
trated the whole christian institution, and with which 
is connected the authoritative words of the ineffable 
Jehovah, " Hear Him." If a man receives the revela- 
tion God makes of his Son, or, rather, if he receives 
his Son, from the revelation he has made of him, and 
bows in submission to him, in accordance with the 
command to " Hear Him," confesses with the mouth 
before men, what he believes in the heart, that " Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God," and submits to the Divine 
test of loyalty, in the requirement to be buried with 
his Lord in baptism, while that great formula is 
uttered over him, " I baptize you in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." he 
gives the highest assurance in his power to give, that 
he is changed in heart, that he loves God and will 
serve him, and is bound by the strongest pledge, the 
highest and most solemn obligation that ever did or 
ever can bind a human being, to love and serve God. 
To add a thousand human ceremonies to this, would 
give no higher assurance of the preparation of the 
heart, the designs and resolutions being genuine, and 
bind the individual no more solemnly to be faithful to 
the end. The confession that God requires, is the 
greatest confession that man can make, and the 
making of it is the best evidence a man can give that 



BOOK OF GEMS. 125 

his heart is right. The first test of loyalty God has 
required of the penitent confessor, is the strongest, 
highest, and most solemn to which man can submit, 
and the submission to it, is the strongest evidence of 
loyalty the person can give. The authority that re- 
quires this submission, is the highest and most bind- 
ing that can rest upon a human being ; and, if it does 
not govern, control and restrain the person, no author- 
ity can. 

If such a confession as this — one that takes in God 
and man, heaven and earth, the Savior and his words, 
the whole revelation from God, the sublime confession 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, made in a proper 
manner, will not show that the heart is right. You 
need not add any such catechisms or experiences as 
are common in these times. They are all perfect 
nothingness compared with this great confession, 
which, like the spider's web, may catch flies and 
gnats, while the dangerous wasp and hornet will pass 
through with ease. The safe ground, and the only 
safe ground, is to follow the simple and infallible lead- 
ings of the Spirit of God. Appeal to the sacred 
record, and examine his divine and unerring procedure 
the day he came down from heaven and guided the 
apostles into all truth. What did he require of men 
on that day, before receiving them into the church ? 
Follow him as he guided the apostles in all the cases 
of conversion mentioned in the sacred record. What 
did he require in all these cases ? The same must be 
required now, and no more. We must be led by the 
Spirit of God, in converting sinners, and not by human 
creeds ; we must be guided by the wisdom of God and 
not by the wisdom of man ; we must have confidence 



126 BOOK OF GEMS. 

in the ways of God and show no hankering after the 
ways of man. God will depart from all who turn 
away from the simplicity of the apostolic practice, 
nnder the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit. JSTo 
man is led by, or has the spirit, who has not full con- 
fidence in requiring precisely the same of all who 
enter the church required by the apostles, as by the 
Holy Spirit, who guided them. He simply required 
the confession with the mouth, of the faith of the 
heart. 



9P- ■+• 



EVANGELISTS AND EVANGELIZING. 




E have had a continuous series of writing and 
preaching abont properly qualified Evange- 
^ lists, and numerous schemes have been set on 
foot and advocated, for raising up and qualifying men 
for this great work. Still, the Evangelical field is not 
at all supplied. No scheme set on foot is supplying, 
or likely to supply, the field. Some few preachers are 
being manufactured, but where do they go ? and what 
do they do ? How many of them go out into the field 
and preach the gospel, convert sinners, plant and 
build up churches ? Where is one doing anything of 
this kind ? In many parts of the country, they have 
made people believe that the old preachers who have 
planted the churches and made the principal part of 
all the converts that have been made, are behind the 



BOOK 0¥ GEMS. 127 

times, and incapable of preaching, discouraged and 
driven many of them from the field, and the work is 
not progressing. We need, and must have, if we ever 
progress, evangelists, or missionaries, who will travel 
throughout the length and breadth of the country, 
visit the churches, " see how they do," " set in order 
the things that are wanting," recruit their numbers, 
and maintain .the faith once delivered to the saints. 
We need, and must have, men who will visit weak 
churches, enter new communities, where there aro 
no churches, — bold adventurers, pioneers to open the 
immense forests, and make the rude desert blossom 
like the rose. This work must be done, and we must 
have the men that can and will do it. 

Where are we to obtain this class of men ? Can we 
never learn anything from the history of the past, 
from all experience % Where did the men come from, 
who have done pretty much of all this kind of work 
that has ever been done ? Is a miracle to be expected ? 
Will men for this work, come from a source whence 
such men never came ? No ! never while man is man, 
and human nature is human nature. Men brought up 
in school houses, fed and clothed from their father's 
pockets, without ever knowing what it was to earn a 
dollar, or a coat for their backs, without knowing any- 
thing about the hardships and bufietings of the world, 
no matter if they become scholars, and learn how to 
say a few fine things, never will and never can do the 
work we are speaking of. They have not the consti- 
tution, the physical energies to do it. They have not 
the knowledge of the world, the ways and manners of 
the people to do it. They know nothing of the toils, 
hardships, and burdens, of the masses of mankind- 



128 BOOK OF GEMS. 

are incompetent to sympathize with them, mingle with 
them, become a fellow creature with them, and preach 
the Gospel of Salvation to them, in an acceptable and 
successful manner and save them. They not only are 
wholly incompetent, incapable, and could not, if they 
would ; but it is not their atmosphere, not their con- 
genial sphere, and they never will do the work in the 
Lord's great Evangelical field. They never have done 
the work, and never will. 

We must turn our eye in another direction. We 
must look to men who have come up in our midst, 
among the people, who are of the people, in active life, 
habits of industry, who have known what it was to 
earn a living — meii who have found out what a dollar 
is worth by earning it ; learned the paople by mingling 
with them; developed their physical man by active 
and industrious life ; know the ways of the world by 
being in it. We must look to men of this description 
whose hearts have been overcome by the love of 
Christ, whose energies have been enlisted in the 
churches, and who are brought forth by the churches, 
and should be reared up and encouraged by the 
churches. Here is where we must look for Evangelists. 
The church must open the way for her young men, 
set them forth, and bring out all the talent she has 
within ; and every man that has the natural endow- 
ment, the energy, the love for man, the anxiety for 
man's salvation, necessary for one who would go out 
into the world to save men, will make his way into the 
Evangelical field, and make his mark in the world. 
If he lacks learning or information, and has the proper 
zeal, desire for his work, and natural endowment, he 
will acquire the learning and knowledge. We must 



BOOK OF GEMS. 129 

open the way for such, in all the churches ; show our 
young men that we are looking for them to come 
forth and enter upon this great work. We must give 
them opportunities and encourage them to speak, to 
read the Scriptures and pray in public, and we shall 
soon find that the Lord has plenty of material of the 
first quality, for this great work. 

Here is the source whence our laboring men have 
come — our active effective men who are doing, and 
have always done the work. It is useless for us to be 
deluded by the vain hope that the men we need, will 
ever come from any other source. "We must turn our 
attention to the Evangelical work, concentrate our 
energies upon it, and do all in our power to promote 
it. Every man that can preach at all ; every man 
that can turn a sinner to the Lord, should be engaged 
in the work, with all zeal and power. We must 
preach the word both publicly and privately, with the 
tongue, and pen through newspaper, pamphlet, maga- 
zine, tract and book ; in every possible way, and by 
all means, we must preach the word of God from the 
rivers to the ends of the earth, and make all men see 
what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, from 
the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who 
created all things by Jesus Christ. " Go," brethren, 
the Lord says, " Go into all the world, and preach the 
Gospel to every creature ;" " Go," says he, " there- 
fore, and teach all nations." Let every man go, who 
can call a few people together, and preach the word of 
the Lord to them. Yes, go if you can preach at all, 
turn sinners to God and save them ; — go and preach. 
Go under a sense of the mighty work, remembering 
the language of that great preacher and apostle to the 



130 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Gentiles, " Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel." God* 
requires those who have the gospel and the ability, to 
preach it now, and this same wo will rest upon them 
if they do not do it. 

What a crying sin against the Lord, who gave us 
the gospel, and man to whom he commands it to be 
preached, for those with the ability, to refuse to 
preach ^the gospel of the grace of God? Who but 
these shall answer to God, if the people perish for the 
word of God? The first disciples, when dispersed 
from their homes, deprived of all their earthly good, 
" went everywhere preaching the word." 



• +■ M B 



A WORKING MINISTRY. 



Wj^ijlEN do not get a support, or do much good, in 
<* k p[ any calling, without work, and there is no call- 
Qyy ing on earth where the distinction is wider, 
between the industrious and indolent, than in the 
christian ministry. We can not be supported in the 
ministry without work, and it is not right that we 
should be. The Lord puts us upon the same footing 
as other men. We must rise early, be at our books, 
off to our appointments, through winds, rains, and 
snows, cold and heat, with zeal and earnestness ; 
preach with spirit and power, whether the audience is 
great or small, rich or poor, both early and late. We 
must come to the people with something cheering, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 131 

strengthening, inspiring, awakening, stirring, and 
thrilling the hearts of men with the theme of Calvary. 
There mnst be no murmuring, complaining, and repin- 
ing about the amount we have to do ; we must do it 
cheerfully, and show that we delight in our Lord's 
work. It is a most sacred honor to us — a mercy from 
God — that we are permitted to work for him, in his 
most glorious cause at all ; and the work must be per- 
formed cheerfully, freely, and with all the heart, or it 
will not be acceptable to him, whether we are sup- 
ported or not. 

The Lord has said that " the laborer is worthy of 
his hire," and if the preacher of Christ imparts spir- 
itual things, he is to receive in return, temporal things; 
but a " laborer " is a working man, and the Divine rule 
is, " if we sow sparingly, we shall reap sparingly." 
The man who preaches the gospel is by all reasonable 
men expected to do as much labor as his strength will 
permit. It is reasonable that he should be expected 
to apply his energies as men of other pursuits. The 
field is wide open before him, and he should be a zeal- 
ous, enterprising, and persevering man, making full 
work in his calling. A man who does not work any 
save a little on one or two days in a week, does not 
receive much reward in any business, unless obtained 
by fraud. The physician who makes a good sup- 
port, works early and late, both good weather and 
bad. The lawyer who makes a good support, is one 
of industry and energy. The farmer who prospers, 
rises early, toils hard, and perseveres late. In all 
departments, industry, perseverance and energy char- 
acterize men who prosper. This is as true of the min- 
istry as any class of men on earth ; they can never 



132 BOOK 01 s GEftS. 

prosper without the most untiring industry and perse- 
verance. It is utterly useless for a man of idle habits, 
addicted to loafing, wasting his precious time in use- 
less gossip to speak of his wants, his lack of support, 
or to try to induce persons of industrious habits to feel 
that he is in need. They will throw the whole matter 
off by saying, " Let him make an effort and apply his 
energies, as I have to do, and he will have plenty." 
But let a preacher apply himself to his calling ; per- 
severe in it, making every effort in his power ; thus 
showing to all who know him, that his labors are act- 
ually arduous and incessant, and he will receive full 
credit from not only his brethren, but the community 
generally, for his industry and faithfulness, and his 
temporal wants will as certainly receive attention, as 
that his worlc is of God. 

The Lord has men yet in this world, good and true, 
who will reward labors of the faithful and persevering 
preacher of the gospel and support him. Indeed, 
there is a kind of fixed principle among men, as well 
as in the Divine administration, that industry shall be 
rewarded and indolence punis7ied, and it is not more 
certainly a settled principle in reference to any class 
of men than preachers. We can not expect to be 
wrapped in cloths, silks, and satins, with fine salaries, 
for preaching one or two short discourses on Lord's 
day, and then lying in the shade all the week ; much 
less can we expect Christianity to prosper, or the appro- 
bation of heaven rest upon us, in such an order of 
things. We must penetrate the whole land in every 
nook and corner, and preach the Word of the Living 
God to every creature. 

We have not written this for any preacher older than 



BOOK OF GEMS. 133 

ourself, but for the sake of young men, whom we 
desire to see useful, influential, and well sustained 
ministers of the Word of God. All such we entreat, 
to study and labor to do the Lord's work, and he will 
supply their wants out of his inexhaustible store- 
house. 



•» ■«• 



PRESENT PUNISHMENT WILL NOT SAVE. 



r'HE mere circumstance of a man being punished 
for his sins in this life, has nothing in it to 
purify his soul, purge his conscience, or prepare 
him for the enjoyment of God. The Egyptians, the 
Antediluvians, the Sodomites, and the Jews, had a 
just recompense of reward sent upon them in this 
world, but this only sent them down to tartareous, to be 
reserved, with the angels that sinned, to the judgment 
of the great day, where, we are assured, Sodom and 
Gomorrah shall appear. Some men appear to think, 
that if men are punished, to use their own style, as 
much as their sins deserve, they must necessarily be 
happy then. But men can not be happy — can not 
enjoy God, without justification, purification of heart 
and conscience; and, unless thus prepared for the 
enjoyment of God, they can not enjoy the world to 
come. This is a work that punishment can not do. 
The hurling of angels, that sinned, down to hell, the 
drowning of antediluvians and Egyptians, the burn- 



134 BOOK OF GEMS. 

ing of Sodomites, and slaying of Jews, did not purify 
one of them. If men live in unbelief, commit some 
capital offence, and are executed for it, though this 
may he a just recompense of reward, it will not purify 
their souls and prepare them to enjoy God. When 
men pass the boundary line of life, they pass all the 
means, in the economy of God, for preparing them for 
heaven, and no punishment will ever do what the 
grace of God could not do. 



i»» «<• 



THE MISSION OF INFIDELS. 



d^HE mission of infidels is not to build up anything 
but to pull down churches, civil laws, govern- 
ments, morals, the characters of men and women, 
peace, happiness, protection of home, property and 
life. They come with a mission of denials of the 
truths contained in the Bible — a mission of war upon 
the Bible, religion, and the friends of purity and 
mercy. They come not with a mission of peace and 
good will to man, but a mission of hatred towards the 
Bible and all it enjoins— a mission to pull down and 
destroy — to spread desolation among other men's 
labors and lay their work in ruins, leaving nothing 
but wrecks and devastation. They come to neutra- 
lize, paralize and dishearten all efforts for the amelio- 
ration of man's condition — to discourage, enfeeble and 
ignore all efforts to rise. They come not into our 



BOOK OF GEMS. 135 

midst with a warm, kind and affectionate appeal to 
the attentive, thinking and reflective portion, — the 
more spiritually minded; hut appeal to the luke- 
warm, hack-sliding, or the apostate, who is beginning 
to stand at a distance, who already is descending upon 
the retrograde plane — not to rescue him, or to prevent 
his retrograde movement, but to accelerate it. The 
appeal to him is not to give him confidence, but to 
destroy his confidence in his Bible, his religion, his 
brethren, and fill him with doubts and distrusts. It 
is not to embolden him, but to intimidate him and fill 
him with fears, and discourage him from all good for- 
ever. 

The mission of infidels is not to enlighten, civilize 
and ennoble the nations. They have never enlightened, 
civilized or elevated a nation or a people since the 
world was made. They have never organized society, 
established peace and order in any place on this earth. 
They have established no civil institutions, no system 
of morals, no code of laws, no system of education, 
and no institutions of learning that deserve the name. 
Even the literature of the country has almost entirely 
been left to the believers in the Bible. It is an easy 
work to pull down civil government, subvert the foun- 
dation of organization, condemn the means of enlight- 
enment, and object to them. It is an easy matter to 
deny everything and prove nothing ; to doubt, vacillate 
and fear. It is an easy matter to distrust, fill others 
with distrust, destroy confidence, throw everything into 
confusion and uncertainty. Some men ha^e fallen so 
fully into this state, that they hardly will venture to 
say they believe anything, have confidence in any- 
thing, or know anything. One man, under the blind- 



136 BOOK OF GEMS. 

ing, benumbing and stupifying influence of unlbelief, 
when asked whether he knew that he existed, hesi- 
tated to say he did. 

"What ability, knowledge or learning does it require, 
to deny everything ? The most ignorant, illiterate and 
stupid, can deny as stoutly, as the most learned, 
enlightened, and talented. It requires no strength of 
mind to stand and deny — to declare in the most per- 
tinacious manner, disbelief, want of confidence, doubts, 
distrusts and uncertainties in everything. A man 
who never read the Bible once through in his life, nor 
ten other books, who has the most corrupt character, 
can talk of inconsistencies, incongruities, contradic- 
tions and absurdities, in the Bible, as stoutly as any- 
body. Any blockhead could leap over the Falls of 
Niagara, or from the Suspension Bridge below. In the 
same way, any man with or without much mind, learn- 
ing or talent, can leap into the dark abyss of unbelief, 
rejecting, contemning and despising all evidence ; but, 
would it not be the part of prudence, of wisdom and 
discretion in such, to look before they leap ? It is a 
fearful experiment they are making. If the step is a 
mistaken one, it can never be retraced beyond this 
life. He who makes the experiment, obtains nothing 
now, only the unbridled privilege of declaring the 
Bible false — religion priest-craft — that man will never 
be called to account, hence all men can do as they 
list. 

The mission of infidels is to risk, and induce all 
men. to risk the loss of everything, without the possi- 
bility of gaining anything in this world, or the world 
to come. They have no worthy object — they can 
have no worthy object in opposing the Bible. They 



BOOK OF GEMS. 137 

# 

have no reason for opposing it, for they do not pro- 
pose to make the world any better. They have no 
proposition to make the world more true, kind, affec- 
tionate or happy. Indeed, the very fact of their 
malignity towards the Bible, shows that it is no fable. 
The land abounds with acknowledged fables; why 
are they not enraged at these ? They are read by the 
million; but, sceptics are no more enraged at them 
than other men. If they are satisfied the Bible is all 
fiction, false or human, why trouble us about it? 
Why not let it pass ? We hear thousands contending 
about the " signs in the moon," but we care nothing 
about them, and do not even trouble those who 
believe in them ; the reason is, we are well and fully 
satisfied, that there is nothing in them. Why do they 
not let the believers in the Bible pass in the same 
way ? The reason is obvious ; they are in doubt, not 
fully satisfied, and feel that there is uncertainty in 
their position. They see and are constantly impressed 
with the fact, that if the christian could be mistaken 
that his mistake amounts to nothing — that he is as 
happy now, and has as high assurance in regard to 
all beyond this life, to say the least of it, as they ; and 
that if the sceptic should prove mistaken, his mistake 
will be an irreparable one. They see that a mistake 
on the part of a Christian involves no danger, no 
serious consequences in this world or the world to 
come ; while a mistake on their part involves eternal 
consequences. They are not constantly impressed, 
too, with the fact, that they are relying upon that 
which amounts to anything like certainty ; for a large 
proportion who have occupied their position, before 
death have repudiated and renounced it, — many of 



138 BOOK OF GEMS. 

• 

them in the immediate expectation of death, — and 
warned all their friends against if. They find on the 
other hand, that all who believed the Bible when in 
health, also believed it when approaching death, and 
that no man who has contended for its truth till he 
was in the immediate expectation of death, has then 
denied it. They must, then, see that their mission is 
simply to fill the world with doubts and distrusts, 
involving all in darkness and uncertainty. 



m > •*• 



IS IT POSSIBLE TO AROUSE THE PEOPLE? 



TpS it not possible to rescue the people from the per- 
^j nicious and blinding influences of speculative the- 
°[ ories and theorists, and induce them to receive the 
simple faith of Christ, become Ms disciples, love him 
and serve him ? Have the leaders of the people, in 
these times, as they did in the days of the Lord's pil- 
grimage on earth, stolen away the key of knowledge, 
and fastened them down with such an impenetrable 
spell of thick darkness that they are unwilling to be 
rescued from this servile slavery to human speculation 
to the rejection of the sun of righteousness ? Or is the 
world so lost, the mind of the people so bewitched, the 
delusions around us so enchanting, that it is impos- 
sible to attract the attention of the people, arrest their 
affections or impress their hearts, by the love of God 
to man, by the sufferings of Christ, by all the divine 



BOOK OF GEMS. 139 

sanctions of the blood of the everlasting covenant, by 
the glories of heaven, or the terrors of hell, to tnrn to 
the Lord and follow him who loved ns and gave him- 
self for ns ? Is the public mind so distracted, and are 
the people so confnsed and lost to all that God has 
said and done, that they can not be indnced to love 
Christ better than all human theories, regard him and 
feel the force of all his love to onr lost and mined 
world ? Are the people so set npon gnawing the bone 
of contention, keeping np sectarian fends ; disputing 
npon the lifeless, soulless and profitless controversies 
thrust upon them, that they will neither hear the Lord 
nor be interested in the word of his grace ? Must the 
public mind be wholly occupied with the useless dis- 
tinctions between the views of men, the useless com- 
parisons of doctrines and commandments of men, the 
comparative merits of different human systems, and 
an eternal train of customs unknown to the primitive 
church, thus bewildering the people and blinding their 
minds that they may neither see the Lord nor regard 
his authority ? Is it impossible to bring the authority 
of the Almighty again to bear upon the world, to lift 
up the Lord before the people, that he may draw all 
men unto him, convert them to the Lord and place 
them under him ? Is it impossible to rescue the people 
from the blinding influences of these times — from being 
merely followers of men, and believing human theories, 
which have no power to save, in the place of believing 
the great truth, that Christ died for our sins, according 
to the Scriptures — that he was buried, and that he rose 
from the dead ? Is it impossible to interest the public 
mind with the things of God — with the revelation from 
God to man, with the religion of Christ itself ? Is the 



140 BOOK OF GEMS. 

love of God gone from the world ? Has the Holy Spirit 
of God abandoned the church? Is the human race 
mad, insane and ruined, so that all pleadings and 
entreaties to turn to God must fail ? Must the holy 
religion of Christ be set aside for the silly disputes of 
these times ? Shall that holy religion that saved such 
vast multitudes in the days of the apostles, fired the 
hearts of the missionaries of the cross and supported 
the holy martyrs in passing through all the cruel 
scourgings, tortures and privations for the name of the 
Lord, be contemned, despised and rejected by the 
people of our day ? O, that God would enable us to 
arouse the people of this generation from the awful 
stupor and deep slumbers of carnal security to prepare 
to meet God! 



-%> — *•- 



A MOTHER'S GRAVE. 



ARTH has some sacred spots where we feel like 
looseing the shoes from our feet, and treading 
f with holy reverence ; where common words of 
social converse seem rude, and the smile of pleasure 
unfitting; places where friendship's hands have lin- 
gered in each other's ; where vows have been plighted, 
prayers offered, and tears of parting shed. Oh, how 
the thoughts hover around such places, and travel 
back through unmeasured space to visit them. But, 
of all the spots on this green earth, none is so sacred 



BOOK OF GEMS. 141 

as that where rest, waiting the resurrection, those we 
once cherished and loved — our brothers, our sisters, 
or our children. Hence, in all ages, the better part of 
mankind have chosen and loved spots for the burial 
of their dead ; and on these spots they have loved to 
wander at eventide, to meditate and weep. But, of 
all places, even among the charnal-houses of the dead, 
none is so sacred as a mother's grave. 

There sleeps the nurse of our infancy — the guide of 
our youth — the counselor of our riper years — our 
friend, when others deserted us — she, whose heart was 
a stranger to every other feeling but love, and who 
could always find excuses for us when we could find 
none for ourselves. There she sleeps, and we love the 
very earth for her sake. With sentiments like these, 
I turned aside from the gayeties of life, to the narrow 
habitations of the dead. I wandered among those 
who had commenced life with me in hope. Here dis- 
tinctions were forgotten ; at least, by the quiet slum- 
berers around me. I saw the rich and the great, who 
scorned the poor, and shunned them as infected with 
the plague, quietly sleeping by their side. 



142 BOOK OF GEMS. 



TENDENCY OF UNIVERSALISM. 



HAT the obvious tendency of Universalism is 
irreligious ; that it is opposed to holiness, to 
reformation of life ; that it is in eternal hostility 
to all efforts to make the world better ; that it paraly- 
zes and neutralizes the efforts of men to serve God — 
is one of the most manifest impressions upon the 
mind, both from the theory itself, and from the history 
of its practical workings among men. No pretended 
system in our time has been characterized by such 
daring and unblushing effrontery. It comes forward 
under a pretense of faith, but ridicules the most 
awful and fearful things which that faith reveals. It 
discards the eternal discriminations which the faith of 
the Lord Jesus maintains between the righteous and 
the wicked — between those who serve God and those 
who serve him not — between the vice and virtue — 
except the reward of one and the punishment of the 
other, received in this life. It proposes to believe the 
Bible, and would have men believe that it teaches that 
he who was an atheist, a deist, and a scoffer at all 
that God has said, and a blasphemer of the name of 
God till he breathed the last breath, shall be received 
up into glory, and seated down witli the holy martyrs 
of Jesus, and enjoy God forever ! No other sj^stem has 
so far imposed upon the credulity of mankind, as to 
face the world, as well as the heavens, and declare 
that the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his 



1300K OF GEMS. 143 

angels, where the beast and the false prophet shall be 
tormented day and night, forever and ever — the gehena 
of fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched — is in this world, and that the wicked we 
see are actually enduring its punishments ! 

No infidel desires any better opposition to religion 
than this. ISTo man who hates the Bible, and wishes 
its influence upon the world counteracted, desires any 
more effectual method of doing it than this, so far as 
men will receive it. Those who fall under its influence 
will neither worship God nor keep his commandments. 
Atheism itself has all the incentives to a righteous 
life found in this system, and may be trusted just as 
far. Its influence is to harden the heart, and fill the 
world with impenitence and indifference. 



•+--+• 



VALUE OF LEARNING. 



TpF a man's learning is combined with piety, devo- 
n tion, and consecration to Jesus Christ, and he is 
*l possessed with the humility and meekness incul- 
cated in Christianity, and his learning enables him to 
unfold the unsearchable riches of Christ, with the 
simplicity, sincerity and devotion necessary to com- 
mend it to the hearts and consciences of men, it is of 
great value. If the Lord dwells in a man, if the 
great matters of the kingdom of God fill his soul, and 
if his learning is used in presenting the simple gospel 



144 BOOK OF GEMS. 

of Christ in meekness, it may be of great service to 
him ; but, it requires much care to keep the Lord in 
front of it, so that the hearers will see nothing but 
him. The more gifted the man, the more learned and 
powerful, the better, if all his powers are engaged in 
setting forth and honoring the Lord, sanctifying Him 
in the eyes of the people. At the same time, he 
should rely upon not learning only, or talent, or power 
that he possesses, but upon the Lord, upon his gospel 
— the power of God unto salvation, to every one who 
believes. He must look to heaven for the means to 
move men to repent ; he must appeal to God, keep God 
and his works before his audience, and in this way show 
that his confidence is in Christianity itself, and the 
author of it, and not in himself, not in man. Whether 
men have what the world calls learning or not, they 
must know God, and have the love of God in their 
hearts, if they would induce others to love him and 
turn to him. 



BOOK: OF GEMS. 145 



THE BIBLE INFALLIBLY SAFE. 



\fA~N men lead the people astray by insisting npon 
their adhering strictly to the law of God, uniting 
upon it, living in peace and love ? Let the Lord 
reign. Let his law be the supreme authority. The 
Bible is right if anything is right. All led by it are 
led rightly ; all under its influence are under proper 
influence ; all opposed to it are wrong — all the way 
wrong. 

There is not one ray of light from heaven that has 
ever reached the abodes of men in any creed, any 
book, or any man that is not in the Bible. 

If the man who honestly reads the Bible to know 
his duty or the will of God, and does it to the best of 
his ability, praying daily for the divine aid, both in 
understanding and doing, is not safe, infallibly safe 
and right; no man in this world is safe. 



146 BOOK 0# GEMS. 



EXCUSE FOR CREEDS. 



,NE of the most common excuses offered for human 
creeds is, that " We want something to keep us 
together — something to hind us in union." This 
apology is based virtually upon the same two prepos- 
terous assumptions we have before mentioned. It 
assumes, with great apparent innocence, that the Bible 
can not keep us together, that it cannot bind us in 
union. Then it assumes, with much modesty, that a 
human creed can keep us together — bind us in union — 
can do what the Bible can not do. This, it appears to 
us, should startle any good man at once. These 
assumptions are arrogant in the extreme, and not only 
arrogant, but made without any regard to facts. Do 
human creeds keep churches together? We assert, 
fearless of successful contradiction, that the whole 
history of human creeds proves that they do not keep 
churches together. Let us take one look at three of 
the most popular creeds in this country, and see what 
they have done in keeping churches together. How 
has the Baptist creed succeeded? Has it kept the 
Baptists together ? By no means. From the one orig- 
inal Baptist stock we have now not less than nine or 
ten parties of Baptists. How has the Presbyterian 
creed succeeded in keeping its adherents together ? It 
is thought to be a very wise and powerful document. 
Has it kept Presbyterians together ? It has succeeded 
no better than the Baptist creed. With all its adhe- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 147 

sive power, Presbyterians, within the last century have 
sundered into some eight parties. This needs no com- 
mentary. How has the Methodist Discipline succeeded ? 
It is itself nothing but an offshoot of the Episcopalian 
creed, which did not prevent the Methodists from 
stranding off from the established church. The Disci- 
pline has not been in operation more than one hundred 
and twenty years. How has it succeeded in keeping 
Methodists together during that period? During that 
time Methodism has stranded into some eight or ten 
fragments. What comment this furnishes upon the 
efficacy of human creeds to cement together. Other 
creeds have done no better ; and yet, in the face of all 
this, men want human creeds to Tceep them together ! 

All history shows, beyond all dispute, that wherever 
human creeds have prevailed, divisions have abounded, 
partyism has increased, and unity has been dimin- 
ished. But where the people had confidence in the 
Bible, the law of God, the " perfect law of liberty," 
union has more widely extended, and peace has more 
generally prevailed. Why then, in the name of reason, 
hold on to human creeds to keep churches together, 
when they have so universally failed, and refuse the 
Bible, which has never failed ? 

Faith in a creed can not convert persons, or bring 
them to God. If they are christians at all, faith in 
God, the Redeemer and Savior of men, in the Word of 
God, in the Gospel of Christ, has made them such, and 
to God and the word of his grace they should commit 
themselves, their everlasting trust, and not allow them- 
selves to be divided by human creeds. 



148 BOOK OF GEMS. 



OVER AND THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS. 



(bj 



'HIS day was presented us some of the grandest 
objects of admiration, both of nature and art, we 
ever beheld. We saw some of the grandest, most 
stupendous and wonderful achievements of human 
enlightenment, combined with industry, we had ever 
seen. At one moment we found ourselves hundreds of 
feet above the tall pine trees, away in the valley 
below, where, if we had been thrown off the track, 
we must have been precipitated hundreds of feet 
down among the craggy rocks. In another moment, we 
passed from the skirts of tree-tops, plunging into the 
dark and dreary tunnel, cut through solid rock, hun- 
dreds of feet under ground, where we could no more 
see than if we had never had eyes. Truly is this a 
mighty and wonderful achievement for mortals — poor, 
weak and dying mortals? It is overwhelming that 
men should ever have projected, prosecuted, and com- 
pleted such a conveyance as this, such a vast distance 
through this expanded and rugged region of country ! 
But, vast as this achievement may appear, when we 
are looking at it as a work of man, it diminishes, 
dwindles and sinks into utter insignificance and noth- 
ingness, when we lift our eyes above it, to " the ever- 
lasting hills," the workmanship of Him who " weighs 
the hills in a balance, and handles the isles as a very 
little thing." Also, how our hearts are filled with rev- 
erence and our spirits impressed with awe, when we 



BOOK OF GEMS. 149 

lift our eyes above the hills, to the vast mountains, 
and think of the thousands of miles over which this 
mighty range extends, as well as others on our great 
universe ! We are, at the same time, tilled with awe 
and gratitude, that we have the blessed assurance that 
we are not overlooked, forgotten, and lost in the im- 
mensity of the innumerable works of the Creator ! 
But, blessed be his glorious name, vast and innumera- 
ble as are his marvellous works, he has the time, the 
goodness and compassion to provide for the fowls of 
heaven, and the fish of the sea, as well as the beasts 
of the forests. Among all the variegated multitudes 
of the feathered tribes, not even a sparrow falls to the 
ground unobserved by Him ; and, by the same Omnis- 
cient One, we are assured, by our adorable Redeemer, 
the hairs of our heads are all numbered. To the same 
amount, and for the same purpose, he says, "If an 
earthly parent knows how to give good things to 
children, how much more shall the Heavenly Father 
give his Holy Spirit to those who ask him !" How 
comforting to think that he has promised, saying, " I 
will never leave you nor forsake you, but will grant 
you grace and glory, and no good thing will I with- 
hold from you ?" How secure, too, we can feel, and 
how strengthening to reflect, when dashing through 
these fearful mountains, conscious that though in one 
moment an accident might occur by which our earthly 
career might be terminated, the everlasting arms are 
underneath ; and though the earthly building may be 
destroyed, we have an house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. To his Almighty hand we 
commit our all ; in Him is our everlasting trust. To 
him be praises forever and ever. 



1^0 BOOK OF GEMS. 



REASON, PROVIDENCE, AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD, 
TEACH US TO OBEY GOD. 



OME men are guided by reason, others by provi- 
dences, and others by spiritual influences, sepa- 
rate from, or without the word of God. In regard 
to all this, it is not necessary to make much war upon 
them, provided their reason, providences, or influen- 
ces, lead them to obey the gospel, which we know was 
preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. 
But, it is a sad comment on their reason, providences, 
or spiritual influences, when it leads them to disobey 
the teachings of the Spirit of God in the Bible. 
Right reason, true providences, or real spiritual influ- 
ences, could not lead any in our day to disregard 
what the Spirit of God taught in the establishment of 
Christianity. In one short sentence : " The Spirit of 
God would not lead men to disobey what he has 
clearly required in the Bible." No reason, providences, 
or spiritual influences, therefore, can be of the Spirit 
of God to lead men to disobey what the Spirit of God 
taught in the Bible, or required at the beginning. 
The Spirit of God required precisely the same of all 
persons, who sought the way into the Kingdom of 
God, in the days of the Apostles, that he does of 
all who seek the way now. The Holy Spirit has not 
changed. It is, then, a most arrogant and unfounded 
pretence, for any man who now attempts to set forth 
the way for sinners to come to God, to claim that he 



BOOK OF GEMS. 151 

is led by the Holy Spirit, while he evades and refuses 
to set forth the plain and unequivocal requirements of 
the Holy Spirit, as set forth in the New Testament, or 
attempts to improve upon them. Nothing can be 
taken from those requirements, or added to them, 
without incurring the curse of Heaven. The Spirit 
of God, if he did lead men independent of his word, 
could not lead them to incur this awful curse ; he, 
therefore, manifestly, does not lead any man who will 
add any thing to, or take anything from, what he re- 
quired when he spake through the apostles, of all 
whom he showed the way into the Kingdom of God. 
That which he required in one case, he required in all 
cases. If he required one man to believe, in order to 
become a disciple, he required all to believe. If he 
required one man to confess Christ, he required all to 
confess him. If he required one man to repent, he 
required all to repent. If he required one man to " be 
baptized in the name of Christ, for the remission of 
sins," he required all to do the same. If he promised 
one man pardon and the importation of his Holy 
Spirit, upon his compliance with his requirements, he 
promised all who complied with the same, whether all 
the items mentioned in one case, are found in all, or 
not. No matter if faith is not mentioned in the case 
of the three thousand on Pentecost ; it is not left out ; 
they all believed ; for, without faith, it is impossible 
to please God. They that come to God must believe. 
No matter if repentance is not mentioned in Saul's 
conversion. Acts xxii. 16, he repented, for God re- 
quires all men, everywhere, to repent. The same is 
true of all the items. 
We, therefore, are the only people now known, who 



152 BOOK OF GEMS. 

proceed upon the infallibly certain method of collect- 
ing, and arranging in proper order, all the items re- 
quired by the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners ; 
we mean the inductive mode of reasoning. We have 
no preference for any particular part of Scripture ; it 
is all precious to us. We have no particular class of 
Scriptures, as Calvinists, Universalists, Unitarians, 
etc., but we take the whole Scripture ; not to prove 
our doctrine, but as the perfect and complete system 
of doctrine itself. When we wish to examine any 
point of doctrine, we proceed upon the inductive plan, 
and take all the Bible contains as the mind of God 
upon that point. When we would ascertain what the 
Holy Spirit of God requires of sinners, in their con- 
version and admission into the Kingdom of God, we 
proceed through all the conversions of the New Tes- 
tament, collect all the items, and ascertain their order, 
and insist that the Holy Spirit requires the same now ; 
nothing more, nothing less. Let us, then, take a brief 
look through the New Testament, at all the conver- 
sions, and ascertain precisely what is required and 
what is promised. 

We open at the following words of the Philippian 
Jailor: " Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Here 
is a Pagan whose attention is for the first time called 
to the subject. What reply does the apostle make to 
him? The answer is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house," — - 
Acts xvi. 30-31. Here is an important item in the form 
of requirement, and one, too, that can not be dispensed 
with, for the Holy Spirit says : " He that cometh to 
God must believe." It is not only a requirement that 
he should, but a positive and unequivocal demand is 



BOOK OF GEMS. 153 

that lie must believe, and this indisp en sable demand 
of him that " cometh to God." See Heb. xi. 6. But 
now for the order of this item. Is it a first, second, 
third, or fourth item ? Is it the first item, for the apostle 
says, in the context, " Without faith it is impossible 
to please God." It is in vain, then, to try to do any 
thing else to please him, so long as a man does not 
believe. It is the first item, because the apostle 
required it first of a man who had complied with no 
other item, in such a way as to lead him to believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ the first thing he did. It is the 
first item, because " whatever is not of faith is sin."~ 
Rom. xiv. 23. It must, therefore, be the first item, 
because everything else proceeds from it and is done 
by it. The first item in the commission is Faith, and 
he that sets aside that item will be condemned, let him 
think and act as he may in regard to all other items. 
" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and 
he that believeth not shall be dammed," says the Lord. 
The first requirement, then, is to " believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ," and without complying with this require- 
ment, or taking this step no person can ever take 
another. There is no reaching the second step with- 
out taking the first. Unless the first step is taken, it 
will eternally stand between any man and the second. 
This indispensable step was required of, and taken by 
all who came to God under the guidance of the Holy 
Spirit who spoke through the apostles to the people 
to lead them to God. Never did one, from the days of 
the apostles to the present time, get round, or by, this 
great requirement, and come to God. It is true, that 
when the Pentecostians and Saul inquired what they 
should do, they were not commanded to believe/ but 



154 BOOK OF GEMS. 

it was not that faith was dispensed with in their cases, 
or that the Lord had a different method of conversion 
for them, but for the good reason that they already 
believed, and their faith cansed them to inquire what 
they should do. 

Acts iii. 19, we find the following requirement laid 
down : " Repent ye, therefore, and he converted, that 
your sins may he blotted out, when the times of 
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." 
This requirement was uttered to an assembly that had 
just witnessed one of the most manifest miracles of 
the apostles — one which the enemies mentioned shortly 
after, admitting that it was known to all who dwelt in 
Jerusalem and that they could not deny it, and at the 
close of a discourse which they had heard, and which 
had convinced them that the work was of God. The 
Holy Spirit, on this occasion, demanded of them to 
repent, reform, or amend their lives. This demand too, 
is as wide as the actual sinners among men. In the 
times of ignorance before the gospel, God did not hold 
men to a strict account for their sins, " but now he 
commands all men, everywhere, to repent, because he 
hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world 
in righteousness," Acts xvii. 30-31. Repentance, too, 
is indispensable. "Except ye repent, ye shall all 
likewise perish." Luke xiii. 3. What does the Lord 
mean by this word, "except"? John iii. 3, he says, 
except a man be born again, he can not see the king- 
dom of God." Two verses after this, he says, " except 
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not 
enter into the kingdom of God." Here we have the 
same word, " except," again. What does he mean by 
it ? At verse seven, he explains as follows ; " Marvel 



book: Of gems. 155 

Hot that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" 
You must repent or perish, then, is the meaning of the 
words, " except ye repent, ye shall perish." Repen- 
tance is then required of " all men, everywhere," and 
is indispensable — must be. 

But what evidence have you that repentance is the 
second item ? It is the second item, because we have 
show that faith is the first, which shows that repen- 
tance can not be the first ; and because Peter— Acts 
ii. 3, and iii. 19, — addressing people who believed, but 
had not repented or done anything else, commanded 
them to repent. He makes it the second item. It is 
the second item, because a man can not repent till he 
believes in the Lord, before whom he must repent, and 
who convinces him of sin, for, " by the law is the 
knowledge of sin," which shows that it must follow 
after faith ; and because there is no other item in all 
the records of conversions required, that he can 
acceptably comply with, till he does repent. An im- 
penitent person can not pray, confess, be baptized, or 
do anything acceptable to God. The person, there- 
fore, who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, can 
not get over repentance, or do any thing else accept- 
able to God till he repents. His faith will do no good 
so long as he continues in impenitence. For his impen- 
itence, if he persists in it, he must perish. In the 
order of God, it is the second step, and unless taken, 
will eternally stand between him and the third step. 
No advance can ever be made till he repents. " Except 
ye repent, ye shall perish." It is true, that Ananias 
did not command Saul to repent ; but it was not because 
it was omitted in his case, for no man ever entered the 
Kingdom of God without repentance ; but he was not 



156 fcOOK OF GEM&. 

commanded to repent, for the good reason he had 
repented before Ananias came to him. We are not to 
expect any historian, in giving records of conversions, 
and so many instances, to mention all the items in 
each case. 



•» ■<» 



WHAT IS CAMPBELLISM? 



'HIS has Ibeen a pnzzling question. It is hard to 
find out precisely what it is. Not a man yet, of 
all who have been engaged in fighting this mon- 
ster, has defined it, explained it, or told what it is. 
It has been called a dangerous heresy, and so many 
hideous warnings have been given against it, that the 
hair would almost stand upon a man's head to hear 
about it, and yet no one has told what it is. The 
reason no one has defined Campbellism, is, simply, 
that there is no such thing in existence, except in the 
imaginations of some misguided doctors. As near as 
any man can now come, at what they mean by Camp- 
bellism, it is Christianity itself, unmixed, unadulter- 
ated, and without any other name. This is evident, 
for, when they hear a man preach, who preaches 
nothing but Christianity, nothing but Christ, simply 
aiming to convert men to him, and induce them to re- 
ceive him as their only Leader, they call it Camphdl- 
ism. It is nothing but a nick-name they have given 
the gospel, to keep men from hearing it. In the same 



BOOK OF GEMS. 157 

way, they call the preacher a Campoellite, who will 
preach nothing but the gospel, nothing but Christi- 
anity, to raise prejudice against him and prevent 
people from hearing him. In precisely the same 
spirit, here comes Rev. N. L. Rice, of heresy-hunting 
memory, in a tract of forty pages against Campbel- 
lism, which the reader may think as he pleases about, 
but which is as much against the religion of Christ, 
and those trying to receive it, practice it, and main- 
tain it, and it alone, as was in the power of Dr. Rice to 
make it, without, in so many words, saying so. JSTo 
man in this country, at this time, can preach simply 
the gospel of Christ in the name of the Lord, under 
any other name, and maintain the law of God, as the 
only rule of faith, without being called a Campbellite, 
and branded with preaching Campbellism. 



YOUNG PREACHERS MUST BE PRACTICAL. 



ip 



'HE young man who would become a preacher, 
while he is receiving knowledge, or obtaining 
the theory, must ply himself to the work, making 
a practical use of what he learns. A man may study 
for years and acquire an immense amount of knowl- 
edge, but having no practical use of it, he is as help- 
less as an infant. In precisely this predicament are 
thousands who have gone through the manufacturing 
process of making preachers, without any practical use 



158 BOOK OF GEMS. 

of all they have learned. Indeed, many of them have 
learned nothing of consequence, of one of the most 
important chapters in a real preacher's learning, viz : 
"The ways of the world." The knowledge of the 
Bible — general "book-learning," is all right. It is 
indispensable. But to Imow man, is equally important. 
Man must be studied to be known. We must converse 
with him face to face. We must know the world by 
actual contact with it. We must know the church by 
actual observation. We must know the obstructions 
in the way of truth and righteousness by actual con- 
tact with them, with actual and personal efforts to 
remove them. 

Not only so, but the people must know the preacher — 
see him, hear him, and have personal interviews with 
him. His work can not be done by proxy. He must 
go himself and put his own hands to the work. He 
must be with them and give them a personal example 
of deportment and religious conversation, read the 
Bible to them, pray with them in their families, give 
thanks at their tables, go with them to the place of 
worship, preach to them and persuade sinners to 
repent. A man who does not do this, is really no 
preacher of Christ, and will accomplish nothing for 
his name. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 159 



CHRISTIANITY. 



f^HRISTIAOTTY literally subverts everything else, 
sets aside all isms, doctrines and commandments 
of men of every grade, as the most insignificant 
childish play. It comes to men, claiming the right to 
have the attention of all as though all beside were 
undeserving of any note or any regard whatever. Not 
only so, but it gives no chance to assail, expose and 
refute, for it maintains nothing but the Bible, but Chris- 
tianity, but what God has given by inspiration and 
proved by supernatural signs and wonders, accompa- 
nied with gifts of the Holy Spirit, which all its assailants 
have to admit true ! Can we expect to present the only 
true religion ; the religion of Jesus Christ itself ; the 
only true system ; Christianity itself ; the only revela- 
tion from God ; that contained in the Bible ; the only 
authority of God ; the authority of the Word of God ; 
the only true doctrine; the Gospel of Christ itself; 
and declare everything else unauthorized — null and 
void ; hindrances to the progress of truth and right- 
eousness ; to the edification of saints and the conver- 
sion of the world, and meet no opposition? Not 
rationally. The watchmen on the old party walls of 
their little Zions will see the tendency of all this. They 
will see — they can not help seeing — that precisely in 
proportion as we succeed in fixing the attention of the 
people upon God, his authority, his Son, our gracious 
Redeemer and Savior, his word, his law, his religion, 



160 BOOK OF GEMS. 

as a distinct, complete and perfect system, with all the 
power, grace, wisdom, mercy, benevolence, and author- 
ity of the Almighty in it, calling the attention of man 
to it as the only medium of salvation, all their sys- 
tems must necessarily lose their attraction, their com- 
mand and influence, and hasten to ruin. Many of 
these watchmen are pledged for life, too bigoted to 
look if they may be mistaken, too obstinate, and self- 
willed to yield, and will oppose to the last. 



>»» ««• 



KEEP POLITICS OUT OF THE CHURCH, 



7pF a man has a leading object in view, no matter 
*J whether religious or worldly, let him come out in 
I his proper color, declare his object, and drive 
directly at it. If a man has a favorite political scheme 
let him declare it, publish a paper advocating it, or 
maintain it in public addresses ; but not under the 
name of Christian ; not in the name of the Lord, nor 
under a pretence of preaching Christ ; for this would 
be a manifest imposition, no matter how good the 
political doctrine. But every attempt to make the 
religion of Christ auxiliary to political ends, is a per- 
version, and in direct opposition to the whole spirit 
and entire bearing of the Lord's own reply, when 
charged with being a political aspirant. When 
arraigned before Pilate, and charged with claiming to 
be a king, he explained the matter, and obviated the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 1G1 

charge, or set ifc aside, by saying, " My kingdom is 
not of this world ; if my kingdom were of this world, 
then wonld my servants fight, that I should not be 
delivered to the Jews ; but now is my kingdom not 
from hence." John xviii. 36. While he frankly admit- 
ted that he was a king, and that he came into the 
world to bear witness to the truth, he set aside all 
ground of suspicion against him, as an aspirant to 
the throne, or any other part in the civil government, 
or one who would in any wa3 r meddle in the civil in- 
stitutions of his country, by declaring that his king- 
dom is not of this- world. This declaration was no 
evasion, but a clear, important and divine truth, and 
must be shown in the lives of the disciples of Christ, 
by following his example, or the cause will suffer im- 
measurably. 

Our Lord was so careful to keep his kingdom and 
his mission distinct from civil affairs, that when he 
was appealed to, to arbitrate a dispute touching an 
inheritance, he inquired, who made him an arbiter in 
such matters, or where was there any authority for 
him to step aside from his mission, or, rather, pervert 
his mission and his office from their high, spiritual and 
divine object, to a worldly, temporal and business 
object. He was so careful to keep his mission distinct 
from the world, and worldly relations, that when en- 
gaged in the work of his mission, he refused to recog- 
nize a fleshly relation — his own mother, brother and 
sister. In his kingdom he recognized no fleshly rela- 
tion, as a basis for any application to him, or a 
reason for his institution conferring any benefit on 
any human being, not excepting his own mother, 
according to the flesh. Those who do the will of God, 



162 BOOK OF GEMS. 

regardless of all fleshly ties, political conditions, or 
worldly circumstances, whether male or female, bond 
or free, are mother, sister or brother, to the Redeemer 
and Savior of man. So perfectly distinct did our 
Lord and the apostles keep their mission from politics 
that there is not the remotest hint that they ever par- 
ticipated in civil affairs, in a single instance, in the 
whole of the sacred record. They either never par- 
ticipated in politics in any way, or else looked upon 
the whole matter as so distinct from their mission and 
work, as not to be once mentioned in the whole Chris- 
tian revelation. So distinct is the New Testament 
from political institutions, that it contains not one 
word of instruction to civil officers, in regard to their 
duties, not one hint what kind of men we should vote 
for, or what form of government we should favor. It 
simply enjoins that christians " obey every ordinance 
of man, for the Lord's sake :" " submit to the powers 
that be ; for the powers that be are ordained of God," 
and declares that " rulers are not a terror to good 
works, but to the evil ; that " the ruler is the minister 
of God, and bears not the sword in vain." 

The Christian law enjoins that we "follow peace 
with all men and holiness, without which no man 
shall see the Lord." It is not enjoined that we follow 
peace with a political party, but "peace with all 
men," and holiness. The Lord said, " Blessed are 
the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children 
of God." The angels of God shouted when Jesus was 
born, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace and good will toward man." Shall that religion 
enjoining its adherents to " follow peace with all men," 
promising a blessing upon the peace-makers, whose 



BOOK OF GE^IS. 163 

divine Author was introduced into the world, with an 
angelic shout of "peace on earth," be made an instru- 
ment in the hands of a misguided and worldly priest- 
hood, in the political strifes of the world ? If it shall, 
wo betide him who does it. It will kill every preacher 
and every church that ever had the Spirit of God in 
them, to do it. Indeed, all of this description are now 
dead. Not a man nor a church among them, through- 
out the length and breadth of the country, is doing 
anything for the cause of God. Not a sinner is con- 
verted by them, nor a saint comforted. Many of 
them, old men, that formerly had the spirit of the 
Lord, preached Christ with great power, with their 
souls full of the love of God, converted sinners, edi- 
fied and comforted the children of God, now sit in the 
company of worldlings, read and discuss politics on 
the Lord's day, while the house of God is forsaken. 
Our mission is to preach Christ, Christianity, and to 
disentangle it from all connection with these side- 
artifices, devised to draw men away from the Lord. 
We have only alluded, to slavery, and the excitement 
about it, so far as to discover the proper course for a 
christian, but not to discuss its merits, as a system, at 
all. In doing this, we have simply applied to it the 
rule that we do to all questions of the kind, viz. : To 
inquire for the course pursued by the Lord, the apos- 
tles, and the first Christians, and follow it as infalli- 
bly safe and right. In doing this, we have certainly 
shown that those warring upon us in this matter, have 
no commission from heaven, from Christ, or his apos- 
tles, or, in anything in all their lives and practice. 
We shall, therefore, as far as God shall enable us, 
preach the pure gospel of the grace of God, both 



104 BOOK OF GEMS. 

North and South, East and West, to all, both great 
and small, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free ; 
and thus labor to bring them into the kingdom that is 
not of this world — a kingdom that can not be moved 
— where the pure in heart can enjoy God, his Holy 
Spirit, and his people, though the wicked rale and the 
civil governments are corrupt, with the blessed assur- 
ance that they shall one day be delivered from all the 
perplexities of an imperfect and sinful state. Here 
we must all turn our attention at Jast. 

Civil governments can never be perfected. They 
will always be working wrongs and cruelties some 
place. The wisdom and power of man can not avoid 
this. The wickedness and selfishness of men, also, are 
in the way, so that the civil institutions of the coun- 
try can never be perfected ; and he has studied Chris- 
tianity to but little purpose, who thinks its aim to be 
the perfection of the human contrivances of the world. 
It looks above this, to the purification and perfection 
of individuals, in their regeneration and personal 
sanctification, and preparation for a better state. It 
does not, like some fleshly systems, look upon this 
world as marl's all; but, as momentary, a pilgrim 
state, not our home, not our continued city, but 
merely the preparatory state to a better world. How 
soon this world will all be nothing to all these politi- 
cal wranglers, who have suffered themselves to be 
made tools for political parties, to the neglect of the 
church of God, without one soul ever being able to 
see that all their noise, ever did any good in any way. 
How silly it is, as well as unchristian, for old friends, 
neighbors and brethren to disagree and fall out about 
the intricate and deceptive schemes of political wire- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 165 

workers. Such men are doing no good for their 
church or country. The very circumstance of their 
falling out with their best friends, shows that they 
are insane upon the very subject upon which they 
propose to enlighten the world, and, of all men in the 
world, the most unsafe, to guide either church or state. 



•>» -«i 



UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. 



^^OOKIN"G at the eternal benefits Christianity has 
3^ conferred upon us, and the rich inheritance it pro- 
f poses to confer in the world to come, the little a 
poor mortal can do in a short life-time sinks into noth- 
ingness, and deserves not to be mentioned. When we 
think of him who became poor, that we through his pov- 
erty might be rich — that he became a little lower than 
the angels, that he, by the grace of God, should taste 
of death for every man — that he had not where to lay 
his head — that he died for us — think of the holy 
apostles and martyrs of Jesus, with all their labors 
and sufferings — all we do, or can do, dwindles into per- 
fect insignificance. To God, over all, blessed for ever 
and ever, through Jesus Christ, we owe eternal grati- 
tude, praises and thanksgiving that he has ever 
received us and permitted us to labor in his gracious 
cause at all. To his name be honor and power ever- 
lasting. 



166 BOOK OF GEMS. 



BOUNDARY LINE OF REPENTANCE. 



IP 



'HE boundary line of repentance. Life is the 
boundary line of repentance. What the Scrip- 
tures call " time," contains the whole period dur- 
ing which man can turn to God. " To-day if you will 
hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the bitter 
provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilder- 
ness." If we are ever molded into the image of Christ, 
made conformable to his death, and prepared for the 
society of the blessed, it must be while we are in time. 
To show that we are inside of the clear revelations of 
God, we shall make two or three references to the New 
Testament. One man, more curious to know the fate 
of the masses, than his own duty to God and man, in 
our Lord's life-time asked him : " Lord are there few 
that be saved % " To this the Lord responded : ■ " Strive 
to enter in at the straight gate ; for many, I say unto 
you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
Luke xiii. 23, 24. He then proceeds to the time when 
this shall be, as follows : "When once the Master of 
the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye 
begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, say- 
ing, Lord, Lord, open unto us ; and He shall answer 
and say unto you, I know you not whence you are." 
In reply, they make an appeal to the fact that the 
Lord had been accustomed to eat and drink in their 
streets. He replies, " I know you not whence you are ; 
depart from me all ye workers of iniquity." This 



BOOK OF GEMS 167 

must Ibe after death, for He refers to the future, " "When 
ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all 
the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you your- 
selves thrust out," or thrust away. It is after death, 
because the Master of the house has never risen up 
and shut to the door of the kingdom, in this life. As 
we sing sometimes, " The doors of gospel grace stand 
open night and day." None, in this life, stand and 
knock at the door, crying, Lord, Lord, open to us, 
whom the Master refuses to receive. His language now 
is, " Whoever will, let him come and take of the water 
of life freely." " He who cometh to me, I will in no 
wise cast out." " He who seeks shall find ; to him who 
knocks, it shall be opened," and " whoever calls upon 
the Lord shall be saved." But the time will come, 
when the Lord shall have arisen and shut the door, 
and men shall stand without, knocking and crying, 
Lord, open to us ; but He refuses them admittance and 
thrusts them away, declaring that He never approved 
them. — Nothing like this can be found in this life. It 
refers to the time when the fear of the wicked cometh 
as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish shall over- 
take them ; then shall they call upon the Lord, but 
He will not answer them. See Prov. i. 26, 27. 

Another passage to which we refer, to show that 
death is the boundary line of repentance, is the case 
of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke xvi. 19, 31. This 
rich man died, " and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being 
in torments." Here we find a man in torments after 
death. Lazarus has also died, and been carried by 
angels to Abraham's bosom. Dives, once the rich man, 
but now a beggar, looks .up and seeth Abraham afar 
oif, and Lazarus in his bosom, and cries to him, 



168 BOOK OF GEMS. 

"Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Laza- 
rus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and 
cool my tongne, for I am tormented in this flame." 
ISTow, the question of repentance, or obtaining relief 
from punishment after death, is fairly before us. In a 
case stated by our Lord himself, an application is 
made for the mitigation of torment after death. But 
what is the response of Abraham, who speaks in the 
place of the Almighty, here ? It is, " Son, remember 
that thou in thy life-time received thy good things, 
and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is com- 
forted, and thou art tormented." Here are two men 
after death, one comforted and the other tormented. 
Can any change be made in their condition ? Let us 
hear Abraham. He then proceeds : " Besides all this, 
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed ; so 
that they who would pass from hence to you can not ; 
neither can they pass to us that would come from 
thence." This is an end of all change of condition. 
In that world there is no turning to God nor falling 
from grace. The rich man, then despairing of any 
mitigation of his torments, or change of his condition, 
makes one more appeal to Abraham. " I pray thee, 
therefore," said he, " that thou wouldst send him to my 
father's house ; for I have five brethren ; that he may 
testify unto them, lest they also come into this place 
of torment." Having fallen into torments, on account 
of his unbelief, and having five brethren also unbe- 
lievers, he desired testimony presented to them from 
the dead, lest they also come to this place of torment. 
But Abraham answers, "They have Moses and the 
prophets, let them hear them/' The rich man persists: 
"If one went unto them from the dead, they will 



BOOK OF GEMS. 1^9 



repent." This is the only New Testament account of 
a request for a departed spirit to be sent to our world 
to lead sinners to repentance ; but this request, coming 
from one already in the torments of a wicked man after 
death, was refused in the following words : " If they 
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded though one rose from the dead." This 
shows that God will aUow no means employed to save 
sinners save only those of his own appointment, and 
writes the seal of condemnation upon all visitations of 
the spirits of dead people to save sinners. 

The next and only passage more to which we shall 
refer, to show the boundary line of repentance, is Rev. 
xxii. 11, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; he 
who is filthy, let him be filthy still;, and he who is 
righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is 
holy, let him be holy still." This is an end of all 
repentance, of all turning to God, and also an end to 
all departing from him. The holy shall remain holy, 
and the wicked remain wicked, from this time forward. 
Jesus made his personal efforts to save man m this 
world. When he left the world, he committed to the 
apostles the ministry and word of reconciliation, and 
they made their efforts in this world. All the means 
ever employed to save man, have been employed in 
this life. All the cases of acceptable repentance that 
we have ever known anything about, were in this life. 
If, therefore, men ever turn to God, it must be in time. 
We proceed in the third place, to consider the state 
of man between death and resurrection. There were, 
in the days of our Lord's pilgrimage, a class of mate- 
rialists, who not only denied the resurrection of the 
dead, but that there was an angel or spirit. Many were 



170 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the debates winch they had with the Pharisees who 
differed with them upon these three points. Knowing 
that onr Lord had sanctioned the doctrine of the 
Pharisees, that there were angels and spirits, and 
would be [a resurrection of the dead, the Sadducees 
approached the Lord with the puzzle, touching the res- 
urrection of the woman and seven husbands. As if 
they had said, "Now, Master, you agree with the 
Pharisees, and teach that there will be a resurrection 
of the dead ; but this doctrine involves a difficulty ; 
for a certain woman, in the course of her life, had 
seven husbands, and we should be pleased to know 
which one shall have her in the resurrection ? " Our 
Lord soon explains this matter. He says. "In the 
resurrection they neither marry nor are given in mar- 
riage, but are as the angels of God." He proceeds, 
" Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at 
the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abra- 
ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 
For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for 
all live unto him." While those departed from this 
life, are dead to us, they are alive to God — "for all 
live unto HimP " The inner man," as Paul calls him, 
or " the hidden man of the heart," as Peter styles him 
which is eternal, "not corruptible," but immortal, 
which Jesus says, man is not able to kill, though sep- 
arated from us, or dead to us, is alive to God, " for all 
live unto Him." See Luke xx. 27-38. 

The Transfiguration of Christ presents us the three 
states, the fleshly, the intermediate, and the resurrec- 
tion, or eternal state, all at once. The Lord is changed 
into the glorified state, is seated upon the throne, as 
we would see him to-day, if we were before him in 



BOOK OF GEMS. 171 

heaven. Hence Peter says, " We were eye witnesses 
of His majesty, for he received from God the Father, 
honor, and glory, when there came snch a voice from 
the excellent glory. ' This is my Son, in whom I am 
well pleased.' " On this angnst occasion, Peter, James 
and John represented the fleshly state. They were 
present in the flesh. Moses was here, not in the flesh, 
for he had died some fifteen centuries before this. He 
was not in the resurrection state, for Christ was the 
first-horn from the dead of every creature, that in all 
things he might have the pre-eminence. But he was 
in the intermediate state, or the man Moses was there 
separate from the body ; alive, conscious, and held a 
conversation with the Lord, in regard to his great suf- 
ferings to be accomplished at Jerusalem. Though 
Moses had been dead to the world fifteen hundred 
years, and his body mingled and lost in the dust, he 
was alive to God all this time, and so are all the dead. 
He had not lost his identity, nor his name, but is 
known and mentioned as the man Moses, in a con- 
scious state, seeing, hearing and talking. Our friend, 
so much loved, lamented, but now dead to us, is alive 
to God, and as conscious, and maintaining his identity 
as much as when here in the body. Another dignitary 
present at the transfiguration, was Elijah, who was 
taken to heaven without seeing death. He was in the 
glorified state, in the body, glorified, spiritual, as all 
the bodies of the blessed are. Probably the Lord took 
him to heaven without seeing death, in view of this 
very occasion. What a grand scene is now before us. 
The Lord of the universe is before us upon the throne ; 
the old prophet Elijah, stands before him who was the 
great prophet of all the prophets, recognizing his 



172 BOOK OF GEMS. 

authority, "before the witnesses of Christ. Here stands 
Moses, the Law-giver of ancient Israel, and recognizes 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and surrenders up all authority 
to him. Just at this wonderful and interesting moment, 
the Almighty from the upper world, called out, " This 
is my Son, the beloved in whom I am well pleased : 
hear Mm" 

Let us hear Paul once, on this subject. " Therefore 
we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are 
at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." 
In a few words, he says, " Wherefore we labor, that, 
whether present or absent, we may be " accepted of 
Him." 2 Cor. v. 9. How could we be " present with 
the Lord," and " accepted of Him," when absent from 
the body, if there be not an inner spiritual man, who 
will exist separate, or absent from the body ? !N*o man 
living can ever reconcile this passage with the prepos- 
terous theory, that when a man dies, he has no con- 
scious existence. To this we add only one more scrip- 
ture. When John, in the Island of Patmos, was in 
awful and sublime vision, and saw the whole panorama 
of the future ages passing in review, he says, " I saw 
under the altar, the souls of them who were beheaded 
for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus 
Christ, and they cried and said, how long, O Lord God 
Almighty, holy, just and true, dost thou not avenge 
us of our blood on them who dwell on the earth." 
Here were souls, alive, looking back to what had been 
done on earth, and looking forward to what would be 
done in future. They had not lost their identity nor 
memory, forgotten the past nor distrusted the future, 
but were alive. The intermediate state is, therefore, a 
conscious state, the righteous are comforted, and at 



BOOK OF GEMS. 173 

rest with the Lord, in Abraham's bosom, or Paradise ; 
the wicked are in Tartareous, in prison, tormented, 
reserved unto the judgment of the great day, with the 
angels that sinned. • 

In the fourth, and last place, let us take one look 
forward to the eternal, or resurrection state. Looking 
to the close of the intermediate state, John says, " I 
saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from 
whose face the earth and the heaven tied away, and 
there was found no more place for them. And I saw 
the dead, small and great, stand before Gfod ; and the 
books were opened ; and another book was opened 
which is the book of .life; and the dead were judged 
out of these things which were written in the books, 
according to their works." Rev. xx. 10-12. After thus 
presenting the dead in judgment, he proceeds to tell 
us where they came from, as follows : " And the sea 
gave up the dead that were in it ; and death and hell 
delivered up the dead which were in them and they 
were judged every man according to their works." 
The Greek hades, here translated hell, simply means 
the invisible, or unseen state. In this invisible state, 
the book of God reveals two distinct, or separate 
apartments. One is Paradise, the other is Tartareous. 
In this same book of Revelations, John, speaking in 
the person of Christ, says, "lam he who was dead 
and am alive for evermore ; I have the keys of hell and 
of death ; I can open and no man can shut, and shut 
and no man can open." The amount of this is, that I 
have the keys or power, to open the grave, and raise 
the bodies both from land and sea, and I have the 
power to open the invisible state, both Paradise and 
Tartareous, and bring forth the spirits of the dead, 



174 BOOK OF GEMS. 

both righteous and wicked, re-uniting soul and body, 
to stand in judgment. When the last righteous sen- 
tence is passed upon man, in the last judgment, the 
final separation follows. Whoever was not found writ- 
ten in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 
This is the second death. Here is the last account of 
the wicked, the incorrigible, and we must leave them 
where God leaves them without any attempt to dwell 
upon their deplorable and irremediable condition. 

Let us now turn our attention to the righteous — the 
good and virtuous of all ages — those who feared God 
and worked righteousness in every nation. John says, 
"I saw them coming from every nation, kindred, 
tongue, tribe and people, who had washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and 
they shouted, blessing and glory, and honor, and 
might, and dominion unto him who sits upon the throne 
and to the Lamb, for ever and ever ! " And again they 
shouted, Hallelujah to the Lamb! The Lord God 
'Omnipotent reigns ! John looks again, and says, " I 
John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down 
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned 
for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of 
heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be 
his people, and God himself shall be with them and be 
their God. And God shall wipe all tears from their 
eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sor- 
row, nor crying, for the former things are passed 
away." Shall we who are bathed in tears, here to-day, 
reach the holy city, where we shall be called to pass 
through the deep waters of affliction no more ; where 
we shall hear the groans of the sick and dying no 



BOOK OF GEMS. 175 

more ; where there will be no visiting of the sick, nor 
funeral occasions ; where we shall no more be called 
to give up fathers and mothers in death, husbands or 
wives, or precious children ; but where the wounded 
heart shall be made whole, the weary spirit shall be 
at rest, and the mourner comforted. How ineffable 
the bliss ! How unutterable the joys ! of a state where 
we shall not only be free from all the afflictions that 
encompass us here, but see the Lord and dwell with 
him forevermore ! How invaluable the rich boon pro- 
posed to man, through the Lord Jesus Christ ! What 
everlasting obligations we are under to love God and 
serve him ! Let us put our everlasting trust in the 
Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. 



•> — *•- 



RECEIVING SINNERS WITHOUT BAPTISM. 



71 T is an unfavorable step toward " educating a man 
m up to the importance of being buried with his 
°[ Lord and Master in baptism," to set the law of 
God requiring it aside, and receive him without it. 
This would only lead him to doubt whether we saw 
or cared for the importance of it ourselves. It never 
can have a good influence on any sensible man to see 
religious people so anxious to get him into their 
party as to set aside their own established principles, 
and what they hold to be clearly the law of God, for 
a man not willing to submit to the law of induction 



176 BOOK OF GEMS. 

into the heavenly family. This is not liberality, but 
disloyalty all around. It is not a question about what 
we will do, but what the Lord will do. 

Mere refinement and respectability have nothing to 
do in the matter. It is a matter of faith and respect 
to the supreme and absolute authority. Has a man 
the faith, the humility and the obedient spirit that 
will learn of Jesus and yield to what he requires? 
We are not vying with any people in this country in 
efforts to be liberal and easy in our views and prac- 
tice, but we desire to see who can live nearest to the 
Lord and follow him most closely. He laid down the 
law of induction, or the law for receiving members, 
and we have no discretionary power in the matter. 
We dg not make the terms, but simply exhort men to 
comply with them, as found in the Book of Gfod. 



THE FALL OF BEECHER. 



ft^HE American people are so familiar with the 
name and character of Henry Ward Beecher, 
that no explanation of what follows, is needed 
by the present generation. Beecher is the most 
gifted and noted liberalist and progressionist in 
America. He is out at sea, without chart or com- 
pass. The movements of the wind, and the motion 
of the current, determine his course. He cares not 
whither he sails or where he lands, or whether he 



BOOK OF GEMS. 177 

lands at all or not, so that the breeze is pleasant and 
the waves smooth. His great mind, glib tongue, and 
tireless pen, have enabled him to unsettle and pervert 
the faith of thousands of honest and unsuspecting 
people. Even some preachers among the disciples, 
who are noted for their adherence to the fixed princi- 
ples of revealed religion, have been seduced by 
Beecher. The good providence of God, in time, re- 
vealed the true character of the man of no faith, and 
men now see it blackened and tarnished by crime and 
immorality. Let the liberalists and progressionists 
among the disciples of Christ, take warning from the 
downfall of the far famed Beecher. 

Scandal has come ; disgrace and shame that would 
make any conscience, not seared with a hot iron, 
tingle ; or any face, not past feeling, blush. But the 
Bible is no way responsible for it, not even in appear- 
ance. Beecher was no Bible man. Bible men were 
not his admirers, nor the men that gathered around 
him, that liked him only the more for his broad views, 
his liberality, when he pronounced that beautiful ben- 
ediction on the Pope, " God bless his old soul," and 
said he could commune with the Pope, or worship at 
a pagan altar ; declared that there is not a particle of 
divine authority, in any church in the world ; that he 
was inspired as much as the apostles; and would 
baptize a man every month if he desired it ; that 
there is no authority for infant baptism ; but he was 
for it now stronger than ever, because it was a good 
thing — it had been tried! This man identified with 
the Bible ? ISTot a word of it. The Bible is responsi- 
ble for none of the scandal and disgrace that hang 
upon him and must hang there forever. No, not a 



178 BOOK OF GEMS. 

word of it, you unbelieving man ; we turn all over to 
you; we have here a specimen of your work; unbe- 
lief; what it can do in a short time ; how it can drag 
a man down, and the ruin to which it can bring him. 
Here is the fruit of unbelief ; he can eat of it, and all 
unbelievers can view it, and see what comes of a man 
that contemns the Bible and puts its authority at 
defiance. 

Gentlemen, unbelievers, if you like to view the 
results of unbelief, and the ruin that follows in its 
train, come up here and see what it has done in the 
case of an illustrious man; a man whose fame has 
extended throughout the civilized world; a man of 
wonderful versatility of thought, and immense gifts 
as a speaker and writer, with such an opening as no 
other man on the continent had. This man had 
reached mature years, and his influence had become 
so great, that many good people would not hear a 
word against him, nor believe that his terrible skepti- 
cal talk meant any harm. It was only independence. 
But, in the midst of such a career of popularity, and 
that not of an ephemeral character either, as no other 
man in this nation ever had, up springs trouble in the 
midst of his most intimate friends, and those he knew 
better, and had associated with more intimately than 
any others. It comes not from persecutors without, 
nor from enemies or envious preachers within, but his 
most intimate friends, who know him better than all 
others. 

But, why do not infidels make an ado about infidels 
falling ? They never fall ! They have never attained 
to anything from which they can fall. They are at 
the bottom and there is nothing below them to which 



BOOK OF GEMS. 179 

they can fall. We know of a case where an infidel 
has recently covered himself all over with slime, but 
nothing of consequence is said about it. Why not? 
If he had been a preacher of the gospel his case 
would have been published half round the world 
before now. But he is an infidel, and the idea of 
purity is not associated with infidelity, in the public 
mind. There is no noise about it. His brethren, infi- 
dels, bring him to no trial, call him to no account, 
appoint no committee, and have no examination of 
the case ! Why not ? He professed nothing, and 
they profess nothing. Such things do not disgrace 
them, or bring scandal on them. 



■•»■■«» 



SPEAK PLEASANTLY. 



'HE opponents of the truth will catch every 
unkind or unpleasant word ; every unlovely 
expression or harsh sentence, and comment on it, 
in the absence of argument, and even divert attention 
from the main matter. We should, then, simply 
study how to present the truth, in the clearest, most 
agreeable and acceptable manner ; how to show peo- 
ple the truth, convince them and enlist their souls in 
it. This is the great matter to study, and not how to 
avoid differences and not discuss them at all. We 
are studying how to practice this, and we desire all 
the friends of the Lord to study it and give the adver- 
sary no advantage. 



180 BOOK OF GEMS. 



VARIOUS KINDS OF SCEPTICISM. 



CEPTICS float in thin ether, if not some times in 
pure vacuum, in vast, unknown and unknowable 
regions of pure fancy and idle imagination. 
They roam in everlasting inquisitiveness in the im- 
mense realms of intangibles and invisibles. They 
are variously styled in New Testament terminology, 
" clouds without water," " wandering stars," " filthy 
dreamers," etc., etc. They spend their time, confuse 
themselves and shatter their brains, in explaining 
" degrees in glory," " degrees in punishment," " differ- 
ent spheres," " the possibility of holding converse 
with departed friends," " the origin of sin," " how 
God will overrule evil for the good of man and his 
own glory," " the origin of the devil, if there be any," 
or, " who made the devil," or, "whether he is a real 
being, or only a personification of evil," "whether 
God did not know, when he created man, that he 
would sin," " why he created man, knowing that he 
would sin," "whether he did not know, when he made 
man, who would be saved and who would be lost," 
and, if he did, " why he created those he knew would 
be lost," " whether angels are a distinct order of 
beings from men," " whether we shall know each other 
in the eternal state," " with what body the dead will 
be raised," " whether the righteous and wicked will 
rise at the same time," " where the spirit is between 



BOOK OF GEMS. 181 

death and the resurrection," " whether it is conscious, 
or can exist separate from the "body," " when the end 
of the world will be," etc., etc. 

We have now an immense swarm of these idle 
dreamers ; some of these have already reasoned them- 
selves into the hallucination that they are in the New 
Jerusalem state, and that the christian dispensation, 
or the mediatorial reign of our Lord Jesus Christ has 
passed away ! These idle away their time in discuss- 
ing the ascension, through the different grades of » 
spheres, which they imagine they shall eternally Ibe 
attaining and passing through, with other kindred 
topics. Another class reason themselves into abso- 
lute fatalism. With them, all the actions of men, 
and the very thoughts that lead to them, are of neces- 
sity, and cannot be anything else ! There is no praise 
of one class, or condemnation of another, for all do 
just what they do from an eternal necessity ! Off, at 
another angle, another party is found, theorizing upon 
the whimsical notion of human pre-existence, in which 
state, they think a consistent origin for sin may be 
found! Yet another class perceive, that deep down 
in the Bible, where, till recently, none had ever pene- 
trated, the doctrine is found, that, at judgment, the 
wicked will be stricken out of existence, thus ridding 
them of the idea of endless punishment, which had 
previously given them much distress ! Still another 
class of these, have rid themselves of the same dis- 
tressing and annoying doctrine, by making the aston- 
ishing discovery, that there is no devil, no hell, nor 
punishment of any kind, beyond the present state, 
and, therefore, no danger of any endless punishment ! 
Still another class became perplexed with these meta- 



182 BOOK OF GEMS. 

physical reasonings, subtleties and theorizings, in 
things that they cannot help feeling conscious can 
have no possible beneficial effects upon mankind, and 
rid themselves of the entire concern, by making the 
discovery that all things come by chance, that there is 
no God, Savior, angel or spirit, and death is an eternal 
sleep ! But we sicken at the effort of trying to describe 
the vain and idle speculations of all these " wander- 
ing stars," and shall proceed to something more 
tangible. 

Scepticism has no foundation, no basis, no reality 
upon which to rest. It has nothing to build upon ; no 
rock ;' no pillars of any kind. Nor has it any mate- 
rials or builders. Nothing can be built without a 
foundation, materials and builders. Sceptics are not 
builders. Their work is merely pulling down old 
buildings. This is the reason they make so much 
show ; their work is easy, requires but little skill and 
no goodness. Anbody can tear down, but it takes a 
workman to build. Scepticism is a mere negative, 
consisting wholly of denials. It aflirms nothing, 
establishes nothing, and builds up nothing. It is a 
natural impossibility to build upon a mere negative. 
A system cannot, in the very nature of things, be 
built upon a mere denial — a mere negative. If a man 
would deny, repudiate, and condemn all the founda- 
tions of all the houses in his city, or if he would go 
and tear his neighbor's foundations all down, it would 
give him no foundation for a house, but would simply 
put them in the same condition with himself — that is, 
without any foundation. In the same way, if infidels 
could successfully ~ deny, disprove and overthrow the 
foundation of every system of religion in the world, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 183 

it would lay no foundation for them, lout would simply 
put the rest of us upon a level with them — that is, 
without any foundation. The work of all sceptics 
has been, simply to tear up the foundation of Chris- 
tians, and not to lay any foundation for themselves. 
Not a man in all the ranks of unbelief has ever pre- 
sented any foundation, or has any. Their entire 
clamor is against the Bible, but if they could expunge 
the Bible from the universe, they are no better off — 
they have nothing to stand upon. 

Scepticism has no center of attraction, no gravita- 
tion, no great central pervading idea, drawing every- 
thing to one common center. A system must have a 
common center of attraction, holding it, in its revolu- 
tions, from flying into atoms. But, scepticism has no 
pervading idea, doctrine or constitution, in which 
everything centers, around which everything revolves, 
with power to attract and bind. It consists, simply in 
denials of what others believe. If the things which 
they deny were untrue, and should be denied, the 
denial of them is no foundation or center of attraction. 
Their denial amounts to nothing in their favor, but is 
simply unfavorable to others — destructive of the 
attraction binding others together. A million of the 
most unequivocal denials of the most absurd and pre • 
posterous doctrines the world ever contained, forms 
no center of attraction, doctrine or constitution, in 
which is embodied and concentrated any principal of 
attraction that can bind in a system. Denying simply 
frees men and cuts them loose, in their own estima- 
tion, from that which they deny, or what others 
believe, but binds them to nothing. 

Scepticism has no law, gives no advice, and has 



184 BOOK OF GEMS. 

nothing in it about the characters of men. It does 
not say that a man shall, or shall not, have a good 
character ; that he shall or shall not have a bad char- 
acter. It contains no such words and has no such 
idea, or keeps up no such distinctions as good and 
"bad. It says nothing about love and hatred, revenge 
and pity, covetousness and benevolence, vice and vir- 
tue, happiness and misery. It contains not one sen- 
tence touching all the relations in life, providing 
nothing for individuals, families or nations. It con- 
sists of one negative principle, viz : The denial of 
the truth of the Christian religion. Any man can 
see that there is no law in this. If they could succeed 
in this denial, and show beyond all contradiction that 
Christianity is not true, it amounts to nothing. It is 
no law, and accomplishes nothing in any way, only to 
bring christians upon a level with them — with pre- 
cisely nothing. 

Scepticism has no rewards for the good. It promises 
nothing in this world nor that which is to come. It 
holds out no rewards, no inducements of any kind for 
the good, in time or eternity ! 

Scepticism has no punishments for the bad, here 
nor hereafter. It contains no punishments for evil 
doers — the profligate, dissipated, and corrupt ; thieves, 
robbers and murderers. It knows nothing of crimes 
or punishments for crimes, of any grade or atrocity. 

Scepticism has no reformatory power. A denial, or 
a train of denials, even denials of error, can never 
restrain sinners nor reform men. The influence is 
simply negative. In the very nature of things, it 
cannot act positively. Denials or negatives require 
nothing, give nothing, and, as a matter of course, can 



BOOK OF GEMS. 185 

produce no reformation. It is a negative system, if 
we may be allowed to call it a system at all, and in 
the very nature of things, its influence must be nega- 
tive. It is like cold, which is simply the absence of 
heat ; for the suffering, in the absence of heat, is from 
want of heat. Scepticism is simply the absence of 
the heat of Christianity. Darkness is merely the 
absence of light, or it is the negative of light, else it 
and light could exist at the same time, in the same 
place. In precisely the same way, scepticism is the 
absence of gospel light, or faith. The soul without 
faith is empty, cold, dark, and hungry, suffering and 
perishing, for light, heat and food. Scepticism is no 
system, not a reality, substance or entity of any kind, 
but the absence of all these. To speak in general 
terms of faith, both christian faith and all other faith, 
the absence of it, would be the absence by far of the 
greater part of all we know, or that may be known by 
man. There is nothing more certain than that a man 
who knows much, must believe much. Scepticism is 
not the possession of reformatory principles, but sim- 
ply the absence of them. There is nothing that a man 
can be more conscious of, than that scepticism never 
did, and never can, make a man better. Inherently, 
there is nothing in it. It is the absence of something. 
The mere absence of faith, of religion, doctrine and 
principles, most indisputably can do a man no good, 
and can have no power to save him in any sense. To 
speak of saving a man from starving by the absence 
of food, saving him from thirst by the absence of 
water, or from darkness by the absence of light, or 
from sickness by the absence of the only medicine 
that could sa^e him, is not more absurd, than to speak 



186 BOOK OF GEMS. 

of unbelief reforming man. Scepticism is not heat, 
but the absence of it ; not light, but the absence of it ; 
not faith, but the absence of it ; not knowledge, but 
the absence of it ; not medicine, but the absence of it ; 
not nourishment, but the absence of it. The sceptic 
is a man perishing with cold, while he is graciously 
offered the warmth of Christianity ; groping in dark- 
ness while the light of heaven is as free for him as the 
rays of the sun ; starving, with an invitation to eat of 
the bread that comes down from heaven ; dying with 
thirst, while God is holding out to him the water of 
life ; a sick man refusing to take an infallible remedy 
from the physician, simply exercising the power to 
reject all that could do him any good, resting, refus- 
ing, denying and dying. 



• > +c 



CHRIST THE CENTER. 



a?N the kingdom of God the Lord is the centei. He 
said, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to 
\ me." " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wild- 
erness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that 
whoever believeth on him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." The great apostle to the Gentiles, 
after giving a brief summary of side considerations, 
and many of them weighty, in his situation, says of 
them all, " I count all things but loss for the excel- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 187 

lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for 
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do 
count them Ibut refuse that I may win Christ." Phil, 
iii. 8. Again, said this man of God, " I determined to 
know nothing but Christ and him crucified." He 
would not be drawn aside from the center of attraction 
in the kingdom of God. In the close of his elaborate 
letter to the Corinthians, among whom many distract- 
ing annoyances were operating, and in reference to 
those who disturbed the peace and love of the church, 
he declares that " If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
Christ, he will be accursed when the Lord comes." 
I. Cor. xvi. 22. " Whoever hateth his brother, is a 
murderer ; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal 
life abiding in him." John iii. 15. Again, says the 
holy apostle, " These be they who separate themselves 
sensual, having not the spirit." James xix. The 
Lord says, " By this shall all men know that you are 
my disciples, if you have love one to another." 

From him who thus teaches, we are not to be drawn 
aside, whether we precisely agree upon every side 
question, or the manner of procedure in reference to 
it or not. By him we must stand forever more. To 
him we must pay supreme homage. This can only be 
done by standing firmly upon his precise teachings, 
as far as poor, imperfect creatures possibly can, and 
putting our everlasting trust in him. The cause is 
now progressing, its prospects brightening, and its 
way opening beautifully in almost all directions. 
The good, the reliable, the faithful and working men, 
are gathering up afresh, combining and accumulat- 
ing strength, which will be expended upon the armies 
of the enemy around, with tremendous effect. Let 



188 BOOK OF GEMS. 

every man who can lift a Bible speak a word, or give 
an expression of countenance, for the Lord, and for 
his work, do it; do it with earnestness, spirit and 
power ; do it with strong faith and determination, and 
it will tell upon the world for good, in ages to come. 
Let us make an effort, united, energetic and mighty, 
in the Lord's name, for his cause ; and let the effort 
continue while the Lord shall give us life, and exhort 
the brethren to push it onward with our dying breath. 
To his name, be honor and power, everlasting. 



•>» ■<• 



RICHES OF FAITH. 



OD has created man with credulity, or the ability 
to believe ; he has graciously given us' the truth, 
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living 
God, to belief ; with the divine testimony that incon- 
testably proves the truth. But he does not compel 
any man to read the testimony, to hear it read, to 
examine it, try to understand and appreciate it. He 
lays it before the world, and demands of the nations 
to hear it. It is like all the other blessings God has 
afforded man ; it must be sought, inquired after and 
received, or do men no good. Men may be none the 
better of its ever entering into the world. It may be 
that God has created a rich mine of gold in some 
part of the earth. One man seeks all the information 



BOOK OF GEMS. 189 

he can obtain, in reference to it, becomes satisfied of 
its richness and accessibility; he makes a proper 
effort and obtains a fortune. Another man, with 
equally as good endowments, treats the whole ques- 
tion with indifference to it. Without examining the 
testimony, he pronounces all delusion, humbuggery, 
a chimera, and ridicules it, and the man that seeks 
information, or inquires into it. What good will the 
gold mine do him? None whatever. So far as he 
is concerned, it might as well never have been created. 
But, it fares infinitely worse than this with him who 
treats with indifference the pearls of Jesus Christ. 
He who prefers the darkness of this world to the 
light of the Son of God, turns away his ears from the 
holy and lovely lessons of the benevolent Redeemer, 
refuses to inform himself in reference to Him, to. 
whom God requires all nations to be attentive, incurs 
a responsibility for which he will certainly answer at 
the most solemn tribunal. He who turns his back 
upon the Lord of heaven and earth, when we would 
call attention to him, not only loses or forfeits the 
benefits proposed through him, but incurs censure for 
indifference, ingratitude and disrespect, if not con- 
tempt of his Creator and merciful Benefactor. God 
has created him with a heart to believe, given the 
truth, and furnished the testimony to convey it to the 
understanding, and holds him responsible for the 
exercise of his abilities. Come, then, dear reader, and 
let us fix our minds upon Jesus of Nazareth, and care- 
fully consider his claims upon our attention. The 
whole question is about him. What do you think of 
him whom we claim as the Savior of the world ? Do 
you love him and those like him? Or, are you 
opposed to him ? 



190 BOOK OF GEMS. 



ONE BAPTISM. 




E take it as Wesley did, that " by one Spirit," is 
by the direction of one Spirit, we are all 
immersed into one body. It is clear that the 
baptism alluded to is the initiatory rite, for there is no 
other baptism into one body. The immersion in the 
Spirit is not into one body, or into anything. At the 
house of Cornelius they were immersed into Christ 
after they had been immersed in the Holy Spirit. The 
immersion in the Spirit was to convince Peter and his 
Jewish brethren that God intended to receive the Gen- 
tiles as well as the Jews. Hence, when Peter, in his 
rehearsal of the matter to his Jewish brethren, when 
he came to this, exclaims, " What was I that I should 
withstand God?" 

The " one baptism " of Paul is the initiatory rite — 
the baptism of the Commission, connected with the 
faith and repentance for the remission of sins, and will 
remain as long as there is one to believe, repent or 
seek remission of sins. The faith, repentance, confes- 
sion, immersion and remission of sins stand connected 
in the gospel of the grace of God, and we see not how 
any man can be so perverted as to try to evade any 
one of these items. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 191 



DISTURBING ELEMENT. 



'HE Bible is not the disturbing element, or property 
that prevents fusion, for all the sects have the 
Bible, speak well of it and commend it. They 
all hold the Bible in common. It is well received 
among all denominations. The Bible is not, then, the 
divisive element, or the repellent property among them 
that renders fusion impossible. 

The Lord is not the repellent element, or property 
that prevents fusion, for they all speak well of h;m. 
Indeed, they all claim to have him with them and to 
love him. 

The Holy Spirit is not the disturbing element, or 
property, for they all speak well of him, and claim to 
love him and to have him dwelling in them. 

What, then, is the repellent property among them 
that prevents fusion, or union ? It is this very pet, 
dear and precious creature that they all press to their 
hearts, guard so sacredly, and love so dearly, and 
hold on to as to life itself — denominationalism. This 
is the element, the corroding element, the foreign 
property, that will not fuse. It is constitutionally a 
rebel against union. It is antagonistic and repellent. 
What is it that makes the denomination ? It is that 
which is peculiar to it. It is not the Bible that makes 
a Methodist, nor the love of the Bible, nor anything in 
it, for the Presbyterian has the Bible, loves it, and all 



192 BOOK OF GEMS. 

that is in it, as well as the Methodist. It does not 
make him a Methodist. It is not the Lord, for the 
Presbyterian receives the Lord as fully as the Metho- 
dist, and the Lord does not make him a Metiiodist. 
It is not the Holy Spirit, for all the first Christians 
received the Holy Spirit, and they were not Metho- 
dists ; there never was a Methodist before John 
Wesley. 

What, then, is it that makes the Methodist ? It is 
simply that which is peculiar to Methodists, and that 
which is not received by a Presbyterian. What is it 
that makes a Presbyterian ? That which is peculiar 
to Presbyterians, and not received by Methodists. 
Why, then, can not Methodists and Presbyterians fuse 
into one mass, or unite ? Because the Methodists will 
not give up Methodism, that which is peculiar to 
Methodists ; and the Presbyterian will not give up the 
Presbyterianism, or that which is peculiar to Presby- 
terians. That which is peculiar, makes the denomi- 
nation ; it is the disturbing element in the w^y of 
fusion, or union, and that must be given up, or union 
can never take place. 

The Lord prayed that those who believe may be 
one, that the world may believe. This denomination- 
alism is the very element in the way of union, or the 
cause of division, and division is in the way of the 
world believing, or a main cause of the world not 
being converted. The way is now opened for carry- 
ing the Bible into all the world and turning the world 
to God. Shall that ever be done, or shall our power 
be expended in sending denominations into the coun- 
tries now open for the one pure and holy religion of 
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ? Or, can we not 



BOOK OF GEMS 193 

now, under the influence of the love of Christ, receive 
the one religion of the New Testament and nothing 
else ; unite on it, and carry it to Italy, and every other 
country now in Divine Providence, opened up for the 
reception of King Jesus? What need we care for 
denominations ? The body of Christ, the church of 
the Living God, the kingdom of God, is denomination 
enough for a man who loves the Savior ; and the Book 
of God, containing the law of God and the gospel too, 
is creed enough for all who sincerely love our Lord 
Jesus, the Christ. What a grand and glorious work 
could be performed, if, all in good earnest in the work 
would unite under God, put their hearts into the work 
and determine to push the cause of Christ, the gospel 
of the grace of God, the kingdom of God, through the 
world. We have one hook, a book no where in doubt 
— the volume of God, the Bible , and, can all with one 
heart, and one soul, push it through the world, enforce 
it on men to read it, teach it to others, and make it the 
great power in the earth, to break down and wipe out 
Romanism ; to sweep away all pagan gods, temples, 
and alters, and all sectarian denominations, and unite 
all the friends of the Lord under Prince Messiah ; let 
him go before them, lead and guide them forever and 
ever. What is a mere denomination, separated from 
others by some peculiarities not mentioned in the 
Bible, nor received by any other party on earth, com- 
pared with what the Lord styles, " my church," Matt, 
xvi. 18 ; the body of Christ ; the kingdom of God, 
containing all the people of God ? This is what we 
have in our view ; we will go for nothing less than the 
body of Christ, the kingdom of God. It is of God, 
the denomination is of man. 



194 BOOK OF GEMS. 



WOMEN IN THE CHURCH. 



<4j EAD the Bible carefully, and note the part the 
*\% women took, the greatest and best of them, as 
q/1 well as all classes, in the Patriarchal, Jewish and 
Christian institutions, and follow what you find there. 
It is safe to follow that, and for the good of all, both 
men and women. No improvement can be made upon 
that. As we depart from that we injure all. We desire 
to see women curtailed in no privilege or blessing ; 
nothing that can make them happy, useful, wise or 
good. But the less they have to do in the business 
meetings, the ruling or discipline of the church, the 
better for them and all concerned. They have a natural 
and scriptural work to do, and men cannot do that work 
for them, and men do not lose any of their rights, 
when not appointed to do the natural and scriptural 
work of women. In the same way women lose no 
rights, are excluded from no privilege, nor are they 
in any way degraded in being limited to their legiti- 
mate sphere of operation. The Bible gives women the 
highest honor they can have, and lays down the road 
to the highest happiness. It has elevated women 
from the abject slavery in which Paganism had bound 
them down, and given them the strong arm of the man 
to protect and support them: The nearer they follow 
the Bible, the Lord, and the apostolic teaching the 
better. This is the road to greatness, happiness and 
goodness. 



BOOK OF GEMS 195 



WHO CRUCIFIED THE SAVIOR. 



*€\ ETER charges the crucifixion on the Jews. But 
tiMf the Jews only instigated it ; the Romans, who 
fjyY were Gentiles, executed him. The Jews were the 
more responsible party, as they persisted in clamoring 
for his crucifixion, when Pilate, the Roman judge 
wanted to let him go. The Jews premeditated, de- 
signed and instigated the crucifixion; the Romans 
performed the deed, or were tools in the hands of 
the Jews and executed the will of the Jews. 

But when the matter is more fully comprehended 
the whole world were represented in the transaction. 
The entire nation of Israel was represented in the Sand- 
hedrim, and the nations, apart from the Jews, the 
Gentiles, were represented in the Roman court, and 
thus all the world was represented and implicated in 
the awful act of crucifying the Lord of glory. 

The Jews were, as we have said, the instigators of 
the crucifixion, "but did not, therefore, have the sole 
responsibility, as the Gentiles, or the Roman court, 
had the power to release him and desired to do so, but 
voluntarily yielded to the wishes of the Jews in giv- 
ing him up to be crucified, and with their own hands 
executed him. The Jews had no power to inflict cap- 
ital punishment without the assent of the Roman 
court. The Jews were the instigators and the Romans 
the willing tools to execute their will. 



196 book or GEMS. 



CHRISTIAN ZEAL. 



IP 



'HE leading method employed anciently to impede 
the progress of Christianity was to persecute its 
adherents. This scheme of opposition was well 
tried during the first three centures of the christian 
era, but, although it, to some extent, gratified the 
malice of the persecutors, it was never very successful. 
There is a very plain reason for this. The tendency 
of persecution is invariably to lead the disciples of 
our Lord, to examine the ground of their faith and the 
value of their profession with great care ; and when 
this is done, there is but little danger of " departing 
from the holy commandment delivered to us." Noth- 
ing has ever caused men to scrutinize their profession 
and the whole premises thereof, in such a candid and 
solemn manner as the severe persecutions imposed 
upon the early followers of our Lord ; and yet it is an 
important truth, that, during these severe persecu- 
tions, apostacies were comparatively few. This is not 
all. Persecution has always led the true followers of 
Christ to plead for the claims of the cause with greater 
power. Men, when speaking in a cause and their lives 
at stake, speak from the very bottom of their hearts, 
and exert every power with which they are possessed 
to make an impression. At such times there is no 
dull formality, but all is life and interest. Every one 
feels what he saying and doing. There is no sermon- 



BOOK OF GE^IS 197 

izing, no preaching by the day, but every man carries 
the cause in his bosom, and labors as for eternity. All 
this is calculated to defeat the ostensible intention of 
all persecution, and in the place of impeding the pro- 
gress of the cause must tend to spread it. JN"ot only 
so, but persecution has a tendency to diminish worldy- 
mindedness, and cause the entire affairs of this life to 
appear transient and* fleeting. Its constant bearing, 
like all sufferings in this life, is to direct the christian 
mind to another world, where the bondage of corrup- 
tion shall be put off, and where he shall enjoy pleas- 
ures for evermore. Under such circumstances, how 
the mind is filled with piety, and how the spirit adorns 
the redeeming love which, through Jesus Christ, has 
brought the tidings of deliverance ! Finding no abate- 
ment of persecutions here, no mitigation of suffering, 
the afflicted pilgrim looks to another world for a home — 
for a city upon the immovable rock, the maker and 
builder of which is God, where he anticipates he will 
enter the eternal rest. In all this, the effect is precisely 
the opposite of what is intended by persecutors. They 
intend to cause people to abandon Christianity by per- 
secuting them, whereas it only causes them to esteem 
it more sacred and press it more closely to their 
hearts. 

How perfectly had all worldly considerations dwin- 
dled into nothingness when the apostle counted all 
things but loss, that he might win Christ, and when he 
estimated the intolerable affliction imposed upon him, 
light, compared with the eternal weight of glory in 
prospect! Such heavenly mindedness is the direct 
tendency of persecution, and only calculated to make 
the glories of Christianity shine with greater luster, 



198 BOOK OF GEMS. 

and, consequently, serves not the designs of those by 
whom it is inflicted. It, nevertheless, has been tried 
in thousands of instances, since the first three cen- 
turies, in various parts of the world, even down to 
quite a modern date, but has never been able to extin- 
guish the light emanating from the lofty fountain of all 
light and all knowledge. From modern developments, 
it would seem, that it is now being ascertained by the 
great opposer of all good, that methods more effectual 
may be employed, to impede the progress of the gospel, 
of which we can not now speak in detail. Indifference, 
however, or a general lack of conscientiousness, is now 
the order of the day. Anciently, when a doctrine was 
preached which the people did not believe, they were 
greatly excited by it. On the other hand, when they 
did believe it, they moved forward most warmly and 
energetically. It was the character of the Jewish 
people to follow their impressions with great tenacity. 
To the people of our times, it would seem strange 
that the preaching of the apostles should have so 
excited the people. This generation can listen to doc- 
trine entirely adverse to their views, with compara- 
tively little excitement. They will frequently seem 
scarcely to have heard it. This is because they do not 
hold themselves responsible for what is taught, nor 
feel any very deep concern and interest in forming the 
public mind. They are indifferent to what is taught. 
This is one of the most dangerous features of our 
times. It grows to a considerable extent out of read- 
ing light trash, of a novel and imaginary character, 
which throws away every thing sentimental, with all 
concern about the impression it may make upon the 
human heart. It destroys concern for one of the most 



BOOK OF GEMS. 199 

important items in the world, and seems to suppose 
that our children may, with perfect safety, hear what- 
ever may chance to fall in their path. 

When a man becomes indifferent, or falls into snch 
a state as not to care what is taught, he is measurably 
beyond the reach of all instruction, for he places no 
value upon instruction. When the gospel of our Lord 
was first spoken, it moved the souls of those who 
heard it, and caused them to act most energetically 
either for or against it. This was because they cared 
for public sentiment, and were deeply concerned about 
what was taught. They were really conscientious and 
felt highly responsible for all their actions. But how 
different where this feeling of responsibility is lost ? 
The most awful consequences may be referred to, the 
most terrible appeals may be made, and the most pow- 
erful inducements may be placed before them, but 
Galio like, they are all unheeded and unappreciated. 
In this case, conscientiousness, if not even conscious- 
ness itself, if not entirely lost, is so greatly diminished 
as entirely to cease to perform its office. 

This state of indifference is not confined to the 
world alone, but has long since entered the precincts of 
the church. It is in the way of every meeting, of 
every ordinance, of every discourse, and of every good 
work. Those under its influence are ever ready to 
drawl out, "It is of no use " — " it can't be done " — or, 
" I do not care anything about it." Sometimes it is 
evaded, by objections or some fault being found. How 
perfectly disheartening all this is to those who desire 
to do good, and carry forward the conquest of a great 
and glorious cause. 

How few there are who can properly press the claims 



200 BOOK OF GEMS. 

of Christianity, knowing that such an irresponsible 
and indifferent state of feeling prevails. It is hard to 
manifest a becoming zeal in the midst of such a state 
of apathy. Yet he who rightly reasons upon the cause 
of our Lord, and keeps the subject ever present in his 
mind, must be moved forward. He can not be dis- 
couraged, cowed down, nor deterred. He is invincible 
in his course. The spirit that burns in his breast is 
unconquerable. The more he has to contend with, the 
more grace and ardor of soul he seems to possess. He 
looks to Jesus, who for the joy set before him, 
endured the contradiction of sinners, even unto the 
death of the cross, and yet overcame, and is now set 
down at the right hand of the throne of God. He asks 
the question : Why did our Lord make the good con- 
fession before Pontius Pilate ? Why did he yield to 
the ignominious death of the cross? Why did the 
holy apostles suffer as they did ? Why did the first 
christians wade through floods and flames ? Why 
were they bathed in tears and blood ? Why all their 
zeal and perseverance under all this ? Because they 
endured, by faith seeing him who is invisible. They 
looked forward to the recompense of reward. They 
held daily and spiritual communion with God. Their 
hearts were in heaven, whence, also, they looked for 
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Who that has the grand theme of good tidings and 
great joy to all people, first announced by angels at 
the birth of our Lord and Savior, dwelling richly in 
his heart, can fail to have a burning and a constant 
zeal to spread the same grand and glorious theme to 
the ends of the earth, and thus contribute in causing 
it to bless the nations ? 



BOOK OF GEMS. 201 

If the winds of heaven and the waves of the sea, if 
the diseases of the sick and the terrors of death, if 
the graves of the dead and the gates of hades, were 
obedient to the mandate of Jesus Christ, and, if the 
vail of the temple was rent in twain, the rocks were 
sundered, the earth trembled and the sun was veiled 
in darkness when the Lord of glory died — should not 
the human heart always be filled, when his name is 
mentioned ? If the mighty angels fall-prostrate at the 
feet of Jesus, and hasten to perform the most august 
message at his command, should it not be the delight 
of those redeemed by his blood, to do his will, that 
they enter by the gates into the city, and have a right 
to the tree of life ? 

Who can, who dare slumber in his presence ? Who 
dare be indifferent to the theme that dwelt upon his 
gracious lips ? When he speaks it is the voice of a 
king — more, it is the voice of the King of kings and 
Lord of lords ; it is the voice of him who is to bear all 
rule, all authority and power, until all his enemies are 
subdued. Heaven is his throne and the earth his foot 
stool. Shall we not adore his name, that he has gra- 
ciously promised to confess us before his Father and 
before his angels ? To his name be honor and dominion 
forever and ever . 



202 BOOK OF GEMS. 



JUDGMENT, THE GROUND OF REPENTANCE. 



I 



HEN Paul stood in the midst of Mar's hill, he 
boldly declared the ignorance and superstition 
^ of the Athenians, before the gospel, and stated 
to them, that " in the times of this ignorance, God 
winked at," or that he did not hold them to a strict 
account. He concedes, here, the principle expressed 
by the Savior, that where there is but little given there 
is but little required ; and on this ground, admits that 
God would not deal with them strictly according to 
their works. But he approaches a different state of 
things. A change was about to take place in the deal- 
ings of God with that people. How is it to be now ? 
The apostle responds, " But now he commandeth all 
men everywhere to repent." In the times of the igno- 
rance before the gospel, this command to all men every 
where, to repent, did not exist. But, now that the 
gospel is preached to every creature, he commands all 
men everywhere to repent. But he does not stop here, 
but proceeds to give us the reason why God commands 
men to repent. That reason is not, that there is no 
day of judgment to come, which might serve as a rea- 
son why men need not repent. Why, then, does God 
now command all men everywhere to repent ? The 
apostle answers, " Because he hath appointed a day, 
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by 
that man whom he hath ordained." It is not strange, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 203 

with this passage before us, that preaching Univer- 
salism never causes any body to repent. The preachers 
of that doctrine deny the cause of repentance ; and 
while the Lord calls upon men to repent, because he 
hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world 
in righteousness, they spend their time in preaching 
that there will be no judgment to come. In this they 
set aside the grand reason why men should repent. 
While the preaching of the true gospel leads men to 
sorrow that they have sinned, in view of a righteous 
judgment to come, the preaching of that disgraceful 
doctrine — which we are sorry to have necessity to men- 
tion upon our pages — leads wicked men to laugh and 
trifle, both in view of their sins, and all that the Bible 
says of the great judgment day. 

The apostle, however, does not merely state that God 
has appointed a day in which he will judge the world, 
but he alleges that he has given assurance of the fact. 
His words are, " Whereof he hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
dead." Here he arrives at the foundation of all — the 
resurrection of Christ from the dead. His logic runs 
thus : Christ rose from the dead. What assurance 
does that give ? It is the assurance that God has given 
that he has appointed a day, in which he will judge 
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath 
ordained. And what if that is the case ? Why, then, 
he commands all men everywhere to repent. As cer- 
tain as Christ rose from the dead, there will be right- 
eous judgment; and because there will be a righteous 
judgment, men are commanded to reform and become 
righteous. 

Jesus Christ was judged by the highest ecclesiasti- 



204 BOOK OF GEMS. 

cal court on earth, and in the highest civil court — Ibut 
in both cases condemned unjustly. He could not have 
righteous judgment in this world; but, when the 
unrighteous sentences were passed upon him, and he 
had yielded to the penalty, and his body was consigned 
to the prison-house of death, while his spirit was in 
the unseen world, he appealed the case, and had it 
referred to the high, the holy and inflexible court of 
heaven, where the case was tried righteously. When 
this was done, the former decisions were condemned, 
as partial and unjust, and Jesus was "justified by the 
Spirit," or, as Peter expresses it, " he was quickened 
by the Spirit." The decision in the case was not only 
reversed, but the penalty, which had been executed, 
and was beyond the power of those who inflicted it to 
reverse it, was reversed by ^the great and righteous 
tribunal to which Jesus had appealed. He was justi- 
fied from the guilt of their decision, when the Spirit of 
God condemned their sentence as unjust, and justified 
from the penalty when he was "quickened by the 
Spirit," or raised from the dead. 

When justified, he breaks forth in most triumphant 
language : " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which 
was, and which is to come, the Almighty ; I am he that 
liveth, and was dead ; and, behold ! I am alive forever- 
more, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and death." 
He had been condemned unjustly, but had gone to a 
righteous judgment, where the decision was changed, 
and he was justified; the penalty of death was 
removed, and he was made alive forevermore ; hence, 
" he ever liveth to make intercession for us." He had 
obtained justice. In this case, we have an assurance of 



BOOK OF GEMS. 205 

a day being appointed in which God will judge the 
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath or- 
dained. If God, after the death of Jesus, judged in the 
case of the great leader of all christians, and changed 
the unrighteous sentence previously passed upon him, 
and justified him, why may we not expect him to 
judge all the world after death ; and, where the right- 
eous have been condemned, as has frequently been, 
and as will be, the case in this world, reverse the 
decision, and justify them; and, on the other hand, 
where the guilty have been justified, the decision 
changed, and they condemned. 

There is not a more consoling sentiment on earth, to 
a righteous man, than that there is a day appointed 
when impartial j ustice will take place. The Lord Jesus 
will judge among the nations, and mete out to them 
according to their works. The thought, that justice 
will never take place, may be pleasing to rogues, and 
such a view might be contended for with great zeal, on 
the part of those who know that a righteous judgment 
must condemn them, and such *as care not how deep a 
stab they inflict upon the morals of the world ; but to 
the man who maintains a conscience void of offense 
toward God and man, and who intends, to the best of 
his ability, to deport himself righteously, nothing can 
be a higher satisfaction, than the doctrine, that all false 
decisions will be reversed, and that a just and equit- 
able sentence will be passed upon all. Such a judg- 
ment we anticipate, and such judgment, we are assured 
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, will 
take place. 



206 BOOK OF GEMS. 



THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST. 



.NE thing that has caused an apparent difficulty 
touching the genealogy of Christ, is, that inquir- 
ers are not aware of the fact, that Matthew traces 
the genealogy of Joseph, from Abraham down, and 
that Luke traces the genealogy of Mary up to Adam. 
Matt. i. ; Luke iii. This will account, in some degree, 
for the disagreement in names. They are evidently 
two distinct lines of genealogy, and the best authori- 
ties we can appeal to at present, give Matthew's 
to Joseph and the other to Mary, and it is clear to any 
one, that one descends and that the other ascends. 

The best evidence we can command, sustains the 
idea that Matthew wrote at an earlier date than Luke, 
and that he took his genealogy from the Jewish rec- 
ords, from Abraham to Joseph, as the Jews would be 
willing to believe their own records ; and, that when 
Luke wrote, Joseph had been adopted into the family 
of Heli, (Eli, the same) Joseph's father-in-law, some 
years, and, consequently, Luke copied the genealogy 
of Joseph through Heli, which was properly Mary's 
genealogy, up to Adam. 

There are, however, difficulties in these genealogies, 
which, we presume, no one can reconcile ; but Mat- 
thew and Luke are not accountable for them, as they 
simply give these as the commonly received genealo- 
gies, which those in the day when they had the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 207 

records to appeal to, never disputed. Had the Jews 
been able to involve the Apostle and Luke in a con- 
tradiction, they, no doubt, would willingly have done 
it, but this they could not do, without disputing their 
own records. 



► ^ t 



ADHERING TO THE BIBLE. 




O man should go to the Bible, or the God of the 
Bible, to teach him what man is, or what he 
should be ; but he should go to the Bible to 
learn what he is, what he ought to be, and what he 
ultimately shall be. He should not go to the Bible to 
show what it should teach, but to learn what it does 
teach, for to this we shall all come in the end, whether 
it is congenial with our desires or not. We intend, 
therefore, to maintain it as it is, whether the number 
in favor of it is small or great. We intend to main- 
tain the old distinction between saint and sinner, vice 
and virtue, good and bad, with the same meaning 
attached to them, regardless of all consequences. We 
shall speak of men being saved and lost, happy and 
miserable, justified and condemned, with the same 
ideas attached to the terms as heretofore, and sus- 
tained by all sound rules of interpretation, whether it 
shall be considered sense or foolishness. We shall 
continue to use the Bible terms, rewards and punish- 



208 BOOK OF GEMS. 

ments, life and death, heaven and hell, in the same 
sense as we have been wont to do, knowing, as we do, 
that we are supported by the whole canon of sound 
criticism, and we most solemnly admonish all who 
fear God, against the glosses of that sickening and 
supercilious affectation, that induces any man, for 
one moment, to hesitate to declare to his fellow man, 
in the most faithful manner, the terrible threatenings 
of the Almighty against the impenitent. 

Let no preacher shrink, in this age of sinfulness 
and pride ; let no man of God be deterred by the ridi- 
cule of Universalists, by low wit of sceptics, or the 
vulgar mocking of atheists, from declaring the terrrors 
of the Lord, for he says, " The Lord shall judge his 
people." " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 
of the living God." " With lies you have made the 
heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made 
sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that 
he should not return from his wicked way, by promis- 
ing Mm life" " It is better to enter into life having 
one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 
into the fire that shall never be quenched." "The 
rich man died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being 
in torment." Such is but a tithe of what abounds of 
this description throughout the New Testament. Is 
he a friend to his God or his fellow man, who knows 
such language to abound in the word of God, and 
shuns to declare it to those who hear him ? 



BOOK OF GEMS. 209 




EXCHANGING PULPITS. 

"HAT confidence would we have in the preacher 
who would exchange pulpits with a priest of 
^ the Papacy, not only a member of the Romish 
Church, but made such before he knew there was a 
God, or a Savior, an idolater, or an unregenerated 
man ? The book of God forbids the saints from keep- 
ing company with such a man, or eating with him, or 
to bid him God-speed. We can meet a Romish priest 
and treat him as a citizen, if he is one, a neighbor, or 
gentleman, but we do not know him as a preacher of 
Jesus, or as a teacher of saints, or as a Christian. 
He bears no such relations as these to us, and we 
recognize him in none of these relations. In the 
same way, any man made a member of the church 
without any faith, or before he knew there was 
a church, or even a God, or who has had water 
sprinkled on him for baptism, is not in the body 
of Christ, and we feel kindly toward him as a 
fellow-creature, as a citizen, neighbor or gentleman, if 
he is one, but we do not know him as a preacher of 
Jesus, nor a teacher in the kingdom at all. We can 
extend to him all the amenities and courtesies of life 
as a fellow-creature, citizen, neighbor, gentleman, etc., 
but we simply know him, not as a preacher of Jesus, 
or a teacher of the children of the kingdom. He is 



210 BOOK OF GEMS. 

not in the kingdom, and is not the man to perform any 
service there. 

The first thing for him to do, is to submit to the 
divinely ordained process by which to enter the king- 
dom and become a citizen, according to the law of the 
Great King, and then he is ready to do any service for 
which he is qualified in the kingdom. But he can not 
work in the kingdom till he is in it, and it is a sham, 
a pretense and hypocrisy to act toward him as if he 
were in the kingdom, an insincerity before the people 
that leads to a false impression with some, and 
destroys the confidence with others. 

Such procedure is intended as a show of liberality, 
broad and liberal views. But is it sincere? Is it 
candid? Is it honest? What is meant by it? If 
these men with whom you exchange pulpits are 
not in Christ, what do you mean when you place 
them before the people as preachers of the gospel 
and teachers of the saints ? Do you mean that in 
your expanded liberality you would act toward a man 
as if he were a brother and a preacher, when you 
know he is not in the kingdom at all, but if he wanted 
to become a member of the church, you would not 
receive him, or give the right hand. of fellowship till 
he was immersed ? This will do for people with no 
religious convictions, no settled principles and no law 
of God on which to act. They can act in this way or 
that as they think will be popular, or suit the caprice 
of the people. But among men with religious convic- 
tions, settled principles, and the law of God before 
them, it is only a want of principle, consistency, and 
regard for the law of God. It is simply a manifest 
disrespect to the Majesty of heaven and earth, a bold, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 211 

open showing that the law of God is ignored, over- 
looked and disregarded, in courtesy to a man not in 
the kingdom at all, in deference to a man that was 
never initiated into the body of Christ! This is 
openly trampling down the law of God and showing 
contempt for it, in an empty show of liberality to 
those to whom the grace of God is as free as any 
others, but who have never come in the Lord's appoint 
ments into the kingdom of God. We are as desirous 
to be courteous and liberal as anybody, but religious 
convictions, sacred principles, and last, though not 
least, the law of God must not be ignored, overlooked, 
or treated with contempt. JSTo good man will respect 
any man for setting aside his religious convictions, 
principles, or the law of God. 



•»■■«■ 



KIND OF PREACHERS AND PREACHING NEEDED. 




UlLI 



E want no mere excitement about a man, nor 
after a man, who, as Simon the Sorcerer, in- 
^ duces the people to think that he is some great 
one. We want the clear, solid and telling preaching 
of the gospel, enlightening the people in reference to 
our Lord, the way to him, and how to serve him. We 
do not expect, as a general rule, to see much move 
among the people for the first ten days, but a gradual 
increase in the audience, the interest in the preaching 
and conversations about it ; an acccount of the people 



212 BOOK OF GEMS. 

hunting np their Bibles, inquiring whether these 
things are so, and occasional argument in reference to 
the matter. But after due time and deliberation, 
persons begin to step forward and confess Christ. 
While a good song is sung, everything in the assem- 
bly is solemn, and the impression deepens. While a 
few remarks are made of a solemn and impressive 
nature, and the confessions are taken, the audience 
sits in profound silence, in the deepest and most 
serious meditation, and tears are seen to now freely 
from many faces. The audience disperses, and quietly 
retires, as if from a funeral. This is what we mean 
by gospel work. 

We want nothing sensational, no tricks, no comic 
performance ; no private maneuvering to induce any 
one to promise, " If you will join, I will ;" no artihce 
to get round the people, come on them suddenly and 
surprise them. Come directly to the people from the 
start, and let them know what you mean, and work 
directly to the one point — the enlightenment and 
salvation of men. The man that can tell the story of 
the cross, and of a Savior's love, in the most artless 
and unaffected manner, lose sight of and forget him- 
self in his theme most completely, will accomplish 
the most in the Savior's name. May we learn and tell 
the story of infinite compassion and love in all its 
fullness and completeness more successfully, with 
more faith and power than ever, and may we be 
enabled to bring souls to Christ more abundantly 
than ever. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 213 



WHERE IS THE POWER? 



, r'HE genuine power — the power that will enable us 
to stand against all opposition and triumph at 
last — is not in this man or that, money or learn- 
ing, talent or popularity, "but in the true position. 
Learning is profitable, if used wisely, as a help in 
finding and determining the true position ; but the 
power is not in the learning nor talent. A man of 
very ordinary learning and talent may find the true 
position, stand on and defend it. No matter what a 
man's learning, talent or popularity may be, if he for- 
sakes the truth, the right ground, if he undertakes to 
advocate false theories, it will become perfect weak- 
ness, and will be swept away like chaff. If men 
desire to stand, let them not think of their own power, 
learning, popularity, or personal influence, and talent, 
but of the true ground, " the right way of the Lord," 
and depend on truth and the God of truth; never 
deviate from the truth, but be faithful to it, maintain 
their integrity to it, and the God of all truth and 
righteousness will hold them up. They will realize 
that the strength of the everlasting hills is under- 
neath, and they cannot be moved. If men who once 
knew the truth, begin to higgle, tamper and trifle ; if 
they, little by little, begin to show a want of integrity, 
a lack of moral honesty; a disposition to compro- 
mise with sectarianism ; to ignore the distinctions 



214 BOOK OF GEMS. 

between truth and error, the body of Christ and sectar- 
ian "bodies ; the way of the Lord and other ways, and 
finally begin to abandon leading principles and lead- 
ing points of teaching, they will find their power gone 
and will soon amount to nothing. Many men Tiave, in 
this way, literally thrown themselves away, and others 
are now going the same road. 

If men desire to stand, they should seek the true 
ground, try to ascertain and determine what the truth 
is ; find, with certainty, the true position, and place 
themselves squarely in it ; maintain and defend it, 
not depending on their own strength, learning, talent, 
influence or popularity, but on the truth; the true 
position ; the rigid way. But some one is ready to 
inquire : " How can we find truth in the midst of so 
much error ; the right way in the midst of so many 
ways ?" This may be a little difficult to some. There 
is, however, one thing indispensable to it, and that is 
that a man receive " the love of the truth" This lies 
at the foundation of the whole matter. Men will 
never be successful in finding, advocating, maintain- 
ing or defending the truth, who have never " received 
the love of the truth;" nor will they succeed in 
abiding in the truth. This is the very ground- work 
of the whole matter. All a man's pretences of seek- 
ing the truth, are nothing but an empty sham, if he 
has not in him the love of the truth. He must have 
in him " a good and an honest heart" to constitute 
him the " good ground " in which the seed of the king- 
dom, the word of God, will grow. But the man that 
loves the truth, desires it, longs for it, and has in him 
a good and honest heart, will make most diligent, 
careful and critical search for it. He sets out, not to 



BOOK OF GEMS. 215 

prove this or that ; not to maintain this theory or that, 
but4o rind the true ground — the truth itself, " as it is 
in Jesns " — and rarely fails to find the desired object, 
the highly prized jewel, the most precious gem. The 
love of the truth has an influence on a man, in different 
ways, in favor of his finding it, as follows : 

First. It leads him to make diligent search for it. 
A man will certainly strive to find an object that he 
loves, and if he loves the truth, he will make most 
diligent search for it. 

Second. It leads him to exercise the utmost dis- 
crimination, to distinguish between truth and error, 
that he may not be imposed on and deceived, and 
induced to think something is the truth that is not, 
and thus have a spurious article imposed on him. 

Tliird. The love of the truth has wonderful power 
over a man to cause him to retain it. If he loves it 
he will not give it up. 

If a man receives not the love of the truth, it affects 
him badly in the following respect: 

First. He will exercise no diJigence, to find it. 
He will not search for it. 

Second. He will not be honest when it is presented 
to him, but will evade, cavil, quibble and mystify it 
if possible ; kick up a dust to blind his own eyes, 
and thus keep him from understanding and receiving 
the truth. The Lord will abandon such men to 
" believe a lie, because they received not the love of the 
truth that they might be saved." There are many 
men now who receive not the love of the truth that 
they might be saved. They will never be enlightened 
or brought to the knowledge of the truth. The 
truth condemns them and they do not want it. They 
hate it and those who love it. 



216 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Truth has one grand quality about it ; the more you 
know about it, the more clearly you see that it is the 
truth. It is like an honest man ; the more you know 
about him, the more clearly you see that he is an 
honest man. The more you know about error, the 
more clearly you perceive it to be error. In the same 
way, the more you know about dishonest and heart- 
less men the more clearly you see that they are dis • 
honest. 

Be careful and occupy the right ground, the true 
position, and no man can ever overthrow it, or prove 
it to be anything else but the true ground. It is a 
great thing in favor of an army to take a strong 
position. 

We have taken the strongest position that can be 
taken, and if we fall back from that, no matter what 
we fall back to, we shall find it a weaker position. 
We have gone back to our Lord and looked up to him, 
and committed ourselves to him. He has given us a 
position and placed us . on it. It is not our position 
but Ms position. We know it is right, because it 
came from him and is his. We have simply received 
him, with all he said and did — his holy and inspired 
apostles, with all they said and did. We have noth- 
ing of our own, but have received Christ and his 
gospel, the apostles of Christ, and the gospel of the 
grace of God, which they preached ; the teaching of 
Christ and his apostles ; all things as they came from 
this divine source, without anything added or taken 
away, anything more or less. None can find a posi- 
tion above this. It is the highest ground that can be 
taken. The gospel which the apostles preached is 
right. The apostles' teaching for the churches is 



BOOK OF GEMS. 217 

right. This nobody denies. We have no position of 
our own, or doctrine of our own, "but have taken pre- 
cisely the position of the first Christians, and the 
teachings under which they were placed, and no other. 
We, therefore, have nothing but our Lord, his gospel 
and teachings, as they emanated from himself and 
his inspired apostles, and no position only the one on 
which they have placed us to defend. 

We are weak and can do but little. Let us not rely 
on our own position, but the one the Lord has 
appointed ; our own views or theories, but the clear 
teachings of our Lord and his apostles. Here is the 
strength, and those who stand here will find the Lord 
of hosts with them. We must plead for the Lord, the 
gospel, the teachings of Christ and the apostles, the 
ground on which they stood, maintain that and noth- 
ing else. Here is the power, and it is nowhere else. 



COMMUNION. 



'HE Lord gave the commemoration of his suffer- 
ings and death to his disciples, and Paul, in 
Corinth, gave it to the congregation of the saints, 
and not to any others. Those who are his disciples, 
who are in Christ, in the body, are communicants, 
and those not in Christ, are not communicants. We 
" neither invite nor exclude," but show to whom the 
Lord has given the communion, and that no others 



218 BOOK OF GEMS. 

have any right to it, only those in good standing in 
the body, and give it to no others. 

But for any preacher or church to arrange purposely 
for communion with persons whom they know are not 
in Christ, not in the kingdom, and try to blur over 
the clear violation of the law of the kingdom, as thus 
deliberately arranged for, by defining the position of 
his church to be that they " neither invite nor 
exclude," is certainly a weak and shallow" device. It 
is an attempt to ignore the very act by which we enter 
into union with the Father and with the Son, as, also, 
the " whole family in heaven and on earth," — immer- 
sion into Christ, into the name of the Father and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, under the sham pre- 
text of a union meeting, a union communion. There 
is no Christian union in any meeting that intends to 
ignore the clear law of induction into the kingdom of 
God. It is only a union in disloyalty to the Great 
King — ignoring his law. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 219 



WANDERING PILGRIMS. 




E know of two or three wandering pilgrims that 
are now old men, of good enongh talent to have 
made a permanent record long ago, and yet 
received in doubt wherever they go, held in distrust, 
and, to say the least, they have nothing that could be 
called a standing. To be safe, all the overseers in the 
church need do is simply to receive no man till he 
produces clear evidence of good standing. Look back 
over the record and see where the men have gone to 
who have tried the gospel of soul sleeping. Where 
are Elias Shortridge, Wm. P. Shockey, Wm. S. Speer, 
J. K. Speer, Snooks, and others of the same ilk ? and 
where are their works ? A streak of desolation has 
followed in their train all the way. They have 
divided churches, set the people of Grod at variance, 
and sown the seeds of discord. This is the kind of 
fruit that has been gathered from their work. Look 
back over the ground and see what has followed every 
man that has stranded among us. Nothing but ruin 
has followed. Men that stood fair, had tine talent and 
valuable attainments, by some kind of departure or 
other, have gone, little by little, blaming those that 
loved them, and would, had it been in their power, 
have done anything to make them happy, till all is 
lost and they feel averse to almost everything. This 
is what it brings to get restless and dissatisfied with 
the plain truth of the Scriptures. 



220 BOOK OF GEMS. 

The race of some men is short, and the mischief they 
do is certain. The rnin they bring to the churches 
is inevitable. Nothing is more important than that 
the churches should guard against false teachers. 
In the place of being flattered that all is well, and 
that they mean all right, we should be on the lookout ; 
watch all unscriptural words and phrases ; every 
false move and pretence ; every doubtful man and 
measure, and encourage that which is safe, sound 
and good. Make every public man sensible that 
it is of importance to him, and to the cause, to 
be known to be sound in teaching ; to hold fast the 
form of sound speech that can not be condemned; 
to be entirely safe and reliable; to have a good 
record during his past history as a preacher. Make 
all our young men specially sensible of the im- 
portance to them to become permanent men, firm, 
decided and determined in their course. We want no 
milk-and-water men, a little this way and a little that, 
but men of settled principles, religious convictions and 
reliable purposes. Be careful who you "indorse" as 
preachers of the gospel. Men who want good indorsers 
should be good men. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 221 



DEDICATION OF CHURCH EDIFICES. 



J^OTHING- is more common than reading of the 
dedication of the Temple by Solomon as appro- 
y priate on dedication occasions. Only a few short 
years ago, a young brother of fine talent read of the 
dedication of the temple, and appropriated it to the 
occasion of dedicating a new meeting-house. But this 
is a perversion of a very inexcusable character. It 
loses sight of the significance of one of the most im- 
portant types of the Old Testament. The temple was 
no type of a meeting-house, nor was the dedication of 
the temple a type of dedicating a meeting-house. The 
Lord did not give us the minute description of the 
building of the temple and the dedication to show us 
how to build fine houses and dedicate them. 

The temple was the type of the spiritual building ; 
the congregation of the saints, lively stones, built 
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. 
This is the temple that God dwells in — the house of 
God. The dedication of that ancient temple was typi- 
cal of the dedication, or the consecration of men and 
women to the service of God. The work of the Pope 
is to lose sight of the dedication, or the consecration 
of men and women to the service of God, symbolized 
by the dedication of the temple, and turn the eyes of 
the people to great gatherings of people, to the flum- 
mery and parade of laying corner-stones, dedicating 



222 BOOK OF GEMS. 

houses, immense piles of stone, brick, wood and mor- 
tar, baptizing bells and furniture, etc., etc.; but this is 
no work for the followers of Jesus, nor is there any- 
thing in it to put one in mind of our Lord. 

We have no objection to holding a good meeting in 
a new house, setting the congregation of the Lord in 
order, if it needs it in it, and preaching the gospel to 
the people of the world. But we see no use then in 
making a great ado about it, or thinking any more of 
it than a good meeting in an old house. We do not 
like extra occasions. We like the regular worship 
appointed by the Lord, with every item from him, and 
not an item not from him. We love the things of God, 
but nothing not of him. We want no dedication occa- 
sions, nor any others not authorized in Scripture. 
When a new house is built, go into it and use it pre- 
cisely as you would if it had been there fifty years. 
What the Lord has appointed will occupy our whole 
minds and hearts and hands. 



book or GEMS. 223 



THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS. 



'HERE was certainly an assembly or congregation 
in the wilderness, as mentioned by Stephen. Acts 
vii. 38 ; but this congregation or assembly in the 
wilderness was the nation, or the national assembly 
of Israel — fleshly Israel. It consisted of the fleshly 
descendants of Abraham, as described in the lan- 
guage of God to Abraham, " Those born in thy house," 
or the Jews. This congregation or assembly, the 
nation of Israel, or the Jews, was not the church, or 
body of Christ, but, as a body, it rejected Christ, 
persecuted him and instigated putting him to death, 
persecuted his followers and the church he estab- 
lished. Those of whom the church on Pentecost was 
composed came out of that old persecuting church, 
abandoned it and "were added to them" — to the 
apostles and the one hundred and twenty brethren 
— the new church — the one the Lord said (Matt. xvi. 
18), " I will build." " On this rock I will build my 
church" — the " one new man" (Eph. ii. 15), " to make 
in himself of twain one new man, so making peace." 
" Man " here is used figuratively, and stands for church, 
and one new man is one new church. It is not the per- 
petuation of an old church, Adamic, Abrahamic, Mosaic 
or any other, but to build one new church was what 
the Lord intended and accomplished. 

The matter now is, not to be a descendant of Abel, 



224 BOOK OF GEMS. 

nor of Abraham, nor Jacob, or Israel ; nor to be of 
any particular line of flesh and blood, but to be born 
again — born from above, born of God. " That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh ; that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit." This new church has a new basis of 
membership, not in the flesh but in the Spirit, not in 
being born in the family of Abraham, but in the fam- 
ily of God, not in the first birth, but the second birth, 
not in a birth of the flesh, but a birth of the Spirit, not 
founded in natural generation, but in regeneration, not 
children of God by blood, but "all the children of 
God by faith in Christ Jesus." 

This church in which we are " all the children of God 
by faith in Christ " — by virtue of a new creation, a 
birth of water and of the Spirit, is not the one in the 
wilderness, nor any other church, congregation or 
assembly found before Pentecost, but it is the one the 
Lord said, "I will build," but which was not built 
when the Lord said this ; the one new man, or new 
church which the Lord made of the twain, or the two, 
the Jews and the Gentiles. This is the " one body " into 
which all were immersed in the time of the apostles — 
the body of Christ — the " temple of God," in which 
God and Christ and the Holy Spirit dwell. To be " in 
Christ " is to be in this one body, to be " in the king- 
dom of God," "in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Spirit," to be in union with the 
Father and with the Son, with the whole family in 
heaven and on earth. To be in this one body brings 
us to all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus. This is the body or the church that Jesus 
loved, and for which he gave himself, that " he might 
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by 



BOOK OF GEMS. 225 

the word " — " the church of the living God, the pillar 
and support of the truth." It is " the building of God," 
established " according to his eternal purpose " to " the 
intent " that " to the principalities and powers in 
heavenly places may be made known by the church 
the manifold wisdom of God." See Eph. iii. 10. 



•»» <• 



SOUND MEN. 




HY do men regret to hear us say of a man, " He 
is a gospel man ;" " He is a sound man ;" " He 

^ is a New Testament man ." It implies that 
there are some that are not " gospel men," not il sound," 
not " New Testament men." What if it does ? Why 
need any man be troubled about that ? Certain men 
will be suspected of being unsound ! Indeed ! Must 
we shut our eyes and think contrary to what we know 
to be matter of fact, that all are sound ? But, you 
imply that some are not sound ! Certainly, and you 
imply that some are not honest, when you put a lock 
on your stable, crib or smoke-house, lock and bolt 
your doors at night, and when you will not trust all 
men alike. When you say, "I will trust him, his 
word is as good as his note," you imply that some 
other man is not good — that his word is not as good 
as his note. 

But we tell you of A, B, C, D and E, that we have 
trusted, and they riave all paid, and we believe all are 



226 BOOK OF GEMS. 

alike honest, and will pay. If yon are a business 
man, yon will reply, " Yes, and I have trusted many 
more than that, all of whom paid, but I have trusted 
a long list that did not pay, and you need not preach 
to me that all will pay." So referring to a few men 
who, on a few occasions preached the gospel faithfully, 
does not prove that all do this, or even that these few 
always do it. 

That we have the men now who are making it a 
constant and prayerful effort to reproduce the gospel 
and all its fruits ; to reproduce the Church and all its 
blessings to man ; to maintain all things as delivered 
to us by Christ and his apostles, we rejoice to know. 
That we have another class of men, who have no heart 
in this, and have even repudiated the idea, we enter- 
tain not a doubt. Those determined to reproduce the 
gospel of Christ and all its fruits, the Church, and all 
its blessings to man, introduce no innovations ; noth- 
ing new and foreign to destroy the peace of the chil- 
dren of God, and are the cause of no dissensions and 
no divisions. Those standing off are not from among 
them. They will stand with God, with Christ, with 
the Holy Spirit, with the things of God as set forth in 
Scripture. We stop not to count the number, whether 
great or small, nor to consider whether they shall be 
popular or unpopular, rich or poor. The only ques- 
tion is, are they of God ? Does God require that the 
gospel of his grace, as given Ly his Son and the 
apostles, shall be reproduced ? Does he require that 
the church shall be reproduced ? We maintain that he 
requires that the gospel, in all its entirety and com- 
pleteness, shall be reproduced, and we shall be satis- 
tied with nothing short of it. He requires that the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 227 

Church, in its entirety and completeness, shall be 
reproduced. These are matters settled with us. The 
man whose heart is not in this work, and who aims 
not at it, is not one with us, nor in sympathy with us. 



•»» ■«• 



CHRISTMAS. 




E do not believe that the 25th of December is 
the birthday of our Lord. We have seen 

^ abundant reasons for this, and could adduce 
them, if the importance of the matter required it, 
though we have not the works at hand now to refer to, 
as we think, settling the matter. 

There is not an intimation of the first Christians 
making anything of the birthday of our Lord, observ- 
ing it religiously in any way 2 or regarding it as a 
holiday, or a holy day at all. This accounts for the 
uncertainty about the day. If the first Christians had 
observed it, or in any particular way celebrated it, as 
the Jews did the Passover, there never could have 
been any doubt about the day. Anti-christ is great 
on Tioly days, specially if, of his own appointment, or 
if some paganism is mixed in them. This was one 
source of corruption in the primitive church — the con- 
tinual tendency to mix up pagan ceremonies and 
superstitions with the simple, pure and holy religion 
of our Lord. Worldly and carnal-minded men in the 
early ages conceived the idea of popularizing the 



228 BOOK OF GEMS. 

religion of Christ and commending it to the world by 
mixing pagan ceremonies, customs and superstitions 
with it ; adorning it with philosophy and the pagan 
ideas of refinement. But all this ooly corrupted and 
degraded it. 

The Komish apostasy now has some forty holy 
days in a year, and as many human laws about 
observing them, while those involved in it gormandize, 
drink, revel and gamble on the Lord's day, and thus 
encroach upon the laws of a civilized and enlightened 
people. Protestants are patronizing them in this, and 
recognizing their lioly days, and at the same time 
making nothing of celebrating the sufferings of our 
Lord, on the first day of every week, as all history 
assures us was the practice of the first church ! 
Instead of recognizing the glorious resurrection of our 
Lord, in the assembling on the first day of the week, 
they talk of the Sabbath, and instead of " the com- 
munion of the blood and body of the Lord " — the 
commemoration of his great sufferings for us, they 
listen to a pitiful ditty called " a sermon," and then 
put on long faces and keep Christinas, Good Friday, 
Easter, etc., not named in the law of God at all, but 
derived from paganism. If we had no other objection 
to sectarianism but this, we would stand clear. Peo- 
ple who see nothing in " the first day of the week " — 
u the Lord's day " — but Sabbath, or rest, and see not 
the importance of celebrating the Lord's death, com- 
memorating his sufferings, in obedience to some of his 
last instructions, such as the injunction, " Do this till 
I come " — " Do this in memory of me " — need to be 
enlightened before they can be regarded as worship- 
ers in any true sense, under Christ. This is the very 



BOOK OF GEMS 229 

life, the heart, the soul, and if it be left out, all is a 
sham, an empty pretence — nothing. The question is 
not about Christmas, Good Friday, nor Easter, of 
Romish and pagan authority, but of " the Lord's day," 
and " the communion of the blood and body of the 
Lord," having the supreme and absolute authority of 
the Great King. 



• > • « 



PREACHERS BELONGING TO NO CHURCH. 




E think it is quite proper for men who belong to 
no church to make it known, and then if people 
^ want to uphold such anarchy, disorderly men, 
as preachers of the gospel, they can do so with a clear 
understanding. If preachers can live out of any 
church and do the will of God, other people can do 
the same. This is not all nor the worst of it. These 
men claim not only that they can live out of any church 
and do the will of God, but they claim that they can 
do more good out of any church than in one. This 
only needs to be run out to its legitimate result to see 
the absurdity of it. Outside of any church is not only 
outside of churches of human device, but outside of 
the church of the living God, the pillar and support of 
the truth. The Lord has established one church, one 
body, one kingdom. He gave himself for that church. 
He built it on the rock. He sanctified and cleansed it 
with the washing of the water by the word. He made 



230 BOOK OF GEMS. 

one new man, so making peace, or one new church. It 
is the Lord's one flock of which he is the one Shepherd ; 
the temple of God, in which God, Christ, and the Holy 
Spirit dwell ; the kingdom which we have received that 
can not oe moved. Outside of any church is outside 
of this church. Outside of this church is the world, 
and inside of it is the kingdom of God — all spiritual 
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. 



• > «• 



A CHOIR. 




E find some brethren call a few members of the 
church who sit together and lead the singing a 
^ choir. This is no choir in the popular sense, 
nor is it at all objectionable, specially if the singing is 
so conducted that the members generally sing. But 
this is not the meaning of choir. The choir in a church 
is composed of artistic performers, who sing for 
the church ; sing difficult pieces that the masses can 
not sing, for music and musical display, to attract, 
entertain and gratify the people —to charm them with 
music. These are professional singers, chosen with- 
out any regard to their piety, and frequently without 
any regard to their moral character. They sing to 
show how they can sing, amuse and entertain. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 231 



COURTESY IN FELLOWSHIP. 




NY man who is a christian, or is in Christ, can 
be received into the fellowship of the church. 
If a man is not a christian, not in Christ, he can 
not, in any consistency, be received into the church 
or into the pulpit. We would not give much for any 
man's principles, who can set them aside for a little 
act of courtesy, or a little pretence of liberality. It 
is nothing but a sham, an empty pretence and hypoc- 
risy, to receive a man into the pulpit, and recognize 
him before the people, to whom you would not give 
the right hand of fellowship. 

It is liberality to allow every man the same liberty 
you enjoy, but a sham, a pretence and hypocrisy to 
recognize him as a preacher of Jesus, when you do 
not believe he is in Christ, and would not give him the 
right hand of fellowship and take him into the church. 
Nor is it courtesy to receive such a man into the 
stand as a preacher, but hypocrisy. A man who is in 
Christ is a brother, and, if a preacher of Christ, may 
be received as such, in good faith. Such an one has 
a right to all the privileges of the body of Christ, by 
virtue of being in it. But the man who ignores the 
law of the King, and recognizes persons who are not 
in Christ as brethren, christians and preachers, in- 
stead of displaying a broad liberality, an extended 
charity, shows that he has no settled principles — that 
he disregards principles and law, 



232 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Who ever thought a Mason or an Odd Fellow was 
discourteous for not recognizing a man as a Mason 
who did not belong to the order ? Certainly no man 
of intelligence. They have their initiation, and with- 
out it you are not in the order, and they do not recog- 
nize you, charitably or uncharitably. 



» — +< 




PRAISE GOD BY SINGING. 



E never heard Dr. Knox announce a song to be 
sang in public, while we were with him in Prince 
Edward Island, when he did not say, distinctly 
and very audibly, " We will praise God by singing," 
etc. This opens out with the right idea. How grand 
and sublime to praise God in song ! We ought to sing 
in worship, not for music, or even fine singing, but to 
praise God, to worship the Lord our God as an act of 
devotion to God. We ought not to enter into it with 
the heart set on music, either instrumental or any other 
sort, but on God and our gracious and merciful Lord 
Jesus the Christ. The words ought to be read frequently 
and a few words of comment on them, calling attention 
to the sense, the praises, thanksgiving and supplica- 
tions. Then people who know not God will see, as 
many christians appear to fail to see, the propriety of 
the word in one of our hymns : "Let those refuse to 
sing who never knew our God." It is a contradiction 
of all common sense of the very meaning of the wor- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 233 

ship in song, for those who never knew God, or who 
never even professed to be christians or tried to tnrn 
to God, to say nothing of vile characters, to attempt to 
enter in the worship in song. 

We care not how well people sing if they praise 
God, give thanks and pour out their souls to him. 
Enter into the song with heart and soul, and sing out 
with full voices, enraptured with the theme of the song, 
Him whose praises they sing, the salvation he gra- 
ciously gives and the immortality he proposes to 
bestow. The theme of the song is the great matter. 
To sing with the spirit and the understanding is com- 
manded, and to teach and admonish in singing is also 
commanded. The main body of the singing now done 
is not with the spirit nor the understanding, nor is 
anything iaugM or any one admonished. This is no 
worship. Singing merely to make music is no more 
worship than performing on a piano or violin. 



234 BOOK OF GEMS. 



CHRIST WILL COME. 




UT that Christ will come — " that same Jesus " — 
as literally as he was seen go up into heaven 
from Mount Olivet, we entertain not one doubt. 
That the dead will be raised and pass the final judg- 
ment, after which the wicked will go away into ever- 
lasting punishment — into the fire of geliena, where 
the worm dies nof and the fire is not quenched, at the 
same time that the righteous enter into life eternal 
— we entertain not one doubt. These are clear and 
awful matters of divine revelation, and the main 
matters to set forth and enforce on men, and not 
theories about these great matters. Is it true that a 
man may " lose his own soul ?" that a man may be 
" cast into hell ?" that " both soul and body " may be 
" destroyed in hell ?" that wicked men " shall go away 
into everlasting punishment?" that they may be 
" tormented day and night, forever and ever ?" Is it 
true that God " has appointed a day in which he 
will judge the world in righteousness, by that man 
whom he has ordained ; of which he has given assur- 
ance to all men, in that he has raised him from the 
dead?" Beyond all question, it is true. In raising 
Jesus from the dead, God has given assurance to all 
men that he will judge the world in righteousness. 
The assurance that God will judge the world in right- 
eousness is the reason for repentance. He commands 



BOOK OF GEMS. 235 

all men, everywhere, to repent, because lie lias 
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in 
righteousness. 



>»» ««• 



ONE RELIGION. 



p S there one true and divine religion in the world ? 
The answer of the people in this country generally 
is, that there is. Touching this answer we enter- 
tain not a doubt. There is in this world one religion 
from God, and of supreme and absolute authority. 
It covers the whole ground, and leaves not the least 
room for any other. All others are departures from 
it, corruptions of it, or amalgamations with something 
else. That one religion was given by Christ and his 
apostles. Christ is the Author of it. He is the 
Alpha and the Omega — the Beginning and the End- 
ing. " All authority in heaven and on earth is given 
to him." His religion, and no other, has the divine, 
the supreme, and the absolute authority in it. There 
is not one particle of divine authority in any other. 
All others are usurpations, existing in antagonism 
and rebellion, and will be overthrown. 

The Papal religion is a compound, or an amalgama- 
tion of Judaism, Christianity and Paganism, the 
latter, by far, preponderating. Its great love for, and 
attachment to the Latin, is in deference to Paganism. 
"While it contains some truth, and some parts of the 



236 BOOK OF GEMS. 

religion of Christ, it can not be said, in truth, to be 
that religion. It is another, a departure, an apostasy ; 
beyond recovery, and the divine command to the 
people of God involved in it, is to " Come out of her, 
that you be not partaker of her sins, and that you 
receive not of her plagues." Rev. xviii. 4. God says, 
"Her sins" (the sins of Mystery Babylon) "have 
reached to heaven, and God has remembered her 
iniquities." This iniquitous system, as a distinct 
religion, was not in the world for ages after the true 
religion was established. We need inform no one a 
little acquainted with the New Testament, that no 
such being as the Pope was in the church, nor in the 
world, in the time of the apostles ; nor does he appear 
in the early history of the church at all. We might 
as well look into the Bible or early history for an 
account of Mohammed, or the Mormon prophet, as for 
the Pope. Neither the Pope nor Mohammed appear 
at all in history, for hundreds of years after the 
establishment of the only true religion. Nor was 
there a Cardinal or an Archbishop, during the same 
period. These dignitaries were not developed till 
long after the founding of the New Institution. The 
entire priesthood of the Papacy, as now found, as 
also the Nuns and Sisters of Charity, are wanting in 
all the history, and, we may safely say, in everything 
written in the early centuries. There is not a trace of 
them in the Bible, except in prophecy, nor in any 
writing, for hundreds of years after the apostles. 
This any man knows who has read and reflected at all. 
The idea of the Papacy existing, except in embryo, 
insidiously coming up, without a Pope, a Cardinal, an 
Arch-bishop, a Bishop, a Priest, a Nun, or Sister of 



BOOK OF GEMS. 237 

Charity, for centuries after Christ, is one of the most 
preposterous things ever imposed on the credulity of 
mankind. Yet the very mention of these dignitaries 
is lacking in all the writings of several of the early 
centuries, either in the Bible or out of it. There is 
not a trace of them in any writing of the period of 
which we speak, Jewish, Christian, Infidel or Pagan. 
There is nothing clearer than that the Papal religion 
came up too late to have the least claim to be the true 
religion. The same is true of the Mohammedan relig- 
ion. The true religion was in the world long centuries 
before Mohammedanism had an existence. It was 
born too late to be the true religion. 

The true religion was born in Jerusalem. The 
Papacy was born in Rome. Rome has been its seat — 
its Eternal City. It did not begin in Jerusalem, but 
in Rome. Mohammedanism was not born in Jerusa- 
lem, but in Mecca. It did not originate with Jesus 
but wHh Mohammed. A religion not known till hun- 
dreds of years after Christ and his apostles, most 
unequivocally is not the true religion. We need not 
trouble the reader with the mention of any religion, 
born at a later date, in another place, or originating 
with another person. Such a religion certainly has 
no claim to be the true one. The true religion origi- 
nated with Jesus, in Jerusalem, and in the time of 
Christ and the apostles. Any religion that did not 
originate with Jesus, in Jerusalem, and in the time of 
Christ and the apostles, and that does not appear in 
the accounts found on the pages of the New Testa- 
ment, nor any writings of the first three centuries, is 
out of the question. If the very name of any relig- 
ion, the person with whom it originated, and other 



238 BOOK OF GEMS. 

important matters connected with it, are not found in 
the Bible, nor a trace of it in history for hundreds of 
years after Christ, it is out of the question. 

Is there any way to determine what the true religion 
is ? Is it anywhere distinctly set forth, revealed and 
embodied in writing, so that we can find it separate 
from everything else? It is distinctly set forth by 
Christ and his apostles, separate from everything else. 
They revealed it as complete religion in itself, contain- 
ing all things necessary to life and godliness — the final 
the last will of GJ-od to man. It is the culmination, 
the embodiment and consummation of infinite wisdom 
and goodness in one religion, for all nations of men 
that dwell on all the face of the earth. Can we find 
it ? Can we tell what it is ? Can we practice and enjoy 
it ? We claim that we can find it, practice it and enjoy 
it. Can we determine what it requires us to believe, 
what it requires us to do, and what it promises us ? If 
we have to say no to all this, we are in a deplorable 
condition truly. But we claim that we can find the 
true religion, determine what it is, practice and enjoy 
it; that we can determine what it requires us to 
believe, what it requires us to do, and what it promises 
us. This being so, there is not an excuse for any man 
being irreligious, taking up with a wrong religion, 
thinking that something is the true religion that is not, 
believing something that it does not require, doing 
something it does not command, or hoping for some- 
thing it does not promise. 

There is one book in which the religion of Christ is 
set forth. That one book is the Bible. In that book 
the one religion, the only true religion, is set forth ; 
set forth correctly by the unerring Spirit of all revela.- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 239 

tion and all divine wisdom. Not another religion is 
fonnd in that book, now in force. No man goes to 
that book to find an account of the Pope, a Cardinal, 
or an Archbishop of the Papal type. No man of in- 
telligence goes there to find an account of Mohammed, 
or the Koran. No man of intelligence goes to the 
Bible to find an account of the Church of England, its 
origin, rise, or any part of its history. No man goes 
to the Bible to find an account of Lutheranism, its 
origin, rise, or any part of its history. There never 
was a Lutheran before Martin Luther lived, in the six- 
teenth century. No man goes to the Bible to find an 
account of the origin of Presbyterianism. There never 
was a Presbyterian before John Calvin. No man goes 
to the Bible to find the origin, rise, or any part of the 
history of Methodism. There never was a Methodist 
before John "Wesley. We do not go to the Bible to 
find an account of George Fox, Ann Lee, Joe Smith, 
etc.; nor of Quakerism, Shakerism, or Mormonism. 
These persons are not Bible characters, and these 
religions are not Bible religions. They came not into 
existence till long ages after the last words of the Bible 
were written. The true religion had been in the world 
ages before these were born. This ends all contro- 
versy about their claims to be the true religion. The 
true religion was a finality. In its closing words it 
forbids any addition. 

There is not an item in any religion in the world 
that is right that did not come from the Bible. All 
parties admit that all that comes from the Bible is 
right, and all that does not come from the Bible is with 
out authority.. Their differences are about what is 
not in the Bible and not about what is in the Bible. 



240 BOOK OF GEMS. 

They all believe the Bible, but they do not believe 
what each other have in their other books that is not 
in the Bible. It is not the Bible that makes the 
Baptists, for there is nothing in the Bible about the 
Baptists, and then the Episcopalians have the Bible 
and believe it as much as the Baptists do, and it does 
not make them Baptists. It is not the Bible that makes 
Episcopalians, for the Presbyterians have the Bible 
and believe it as much as the Episcopalians do, and it 
does not make them Episcopalians. It is not the Bible 
that makes Presbyterians, for there is nothing in the 
Bible about Presbyterians, and then the Methodists 
have the Bible and believe it as much as the Presby- 
terians do, and it does not make them Presbyterians. 
The movement about the beginning of this century 
was not to establish a new church, or a new religion, 
bat to return to the Lord, find the old religion and the 
old church ; receive, believe and practice what the old 
religion, as set forth in Scripture, requires, and nothing 
else. No movement can go back of this, nor rise 
above it, if it does what it claims. What remains for 
us, is to stand to it, maintain it and carry it out prac- 
tically and faithfully. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 241 



A. CAMPBELL'S SUCCESSORS AND CRITICS. 



y 



OME fifteen years ago a few of our more advanced 
men gradually commenced opening up to our 
benighted minds, the fact, that A. Campbell was 
not the great man we had thought he was ; that he 
was not the scholar we had thought ; that some of his 
chief ideas were erroneous, and that we should have 
much trouble in undoing what he had done wrong. 
We were growing up many young men, and being 
illiterate and unlearned, we knew not but we had 
over estimated A. Campbell, and that some mighty 
men were rising among us, that would throw him in 
the shade. But we had one comfort all the time, and 
that was that we were not alone in the opinion 
that A. Campbell was a man of superior learning and 
parts. We noticed that he attracted the fire of the 
great guns of the infidels, the Universalists, the 
Roman Catholics, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, 
and sectarians in general. He attracted the attention 
of the great men of Christendom, distinguished the 
hills of Bethany, and gave them a name that will 
extend down to the end of the ages. No man on this 
continent called forth anything like the same amount 
of attention he did, for the space of forty years. It 
was not a mere fortuity that gave him notoriety, but 
sound learning, correct and abundant information, 
persistent and determined work, with a fixed and 



242 BOOK OF GEMS. 

settled purpose, to which he addressed the energies of 
his life. He was a mighty man in the highest sense, 
and to this the impression he made on the people of 
this great country, will testify till the Lord shall 
come. 

We have been amused with two classes of men 
among us. Those of one class were adjusting them- 
selves for the mantle of A. Campbell to fall on them 
when he would depart. Had that mantle fallen on 
one of them, he would have appeared like a boy with 
his father's great coat on — it would have fit nowhere. 
The other class are finding his errors and going 
beyond him. But it is remarkable, that in almost 
every instance, these advanced men prove to be wrong 
themselves. Instead of their discovering some new 
truth, they resurrect some old error. We do not think 
it is advancing very far ahead of A. Campbell to 
resuscitate the Romish and Restorationist idea of an 
obscure Scripture. We frequently think of the man's 
invention, that claimed that he could grow sheep 
witliout icool — it is more curious than profitable. 

It is not inventive genius we need in the Church, 
nor explorers to invent something new, or to make 
discoveries ; but we need humble and honest men, 
who know and love the truth, and will press it on the 
world. We know humble men, of but limited talent 
and information, who are building up churches, 
reforming men and women, and bringing them to God. 
We know also men of considerable learning and 
talent, who do not turn a bare dozen to the Lord in a 
year, and who build up no churches nor anything else, 
but who are starting subtleties, speculations and 
questions to no profit, but only tend to subvert the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 243 

hearer. Why can men not be content with the plain 
truth, the precions truth that makes men wise to sal- 
vation, through faith in Christ ? It is easily learned, 
easily preached and readily believed and obeyed to 
the salvation of the soul. It is for the people, the 
whole people, and adapted to them. The kind of 
greatness we need, is that which manifests itself in 
preaching great truth in plain and easy terms, and 
bringing it to the comprehension of the people. The 
command is, and will be till the Lord comes, " Preach 
the word." 




AUTHORITY OF A SINGLE CONGREGATION. 

SINGLE congregation of the Lord in any com- 
munity can administer and execute the work of 
the Lord in all its parts. This is true of every 
congregation. When assembled it is a divinely-author- 
ized body to act in the matters of the kingdom of God. 
There is no other divinely-authorized body on earth to 
act in the matters of the kingdom of God. This body 
is under the old commission from the Lord : " Observe 
all things whatever I have commanded you" 



244 BOOK OF GEMS. 



CLASSIFICATION OF MISSIONARY MEN. 




E have been trying to classify onr missionary 
men, so that we can think of them with intelli- 

^ gence. We pnt them down as follows : 

First. Men who go ahead and preach, and continue 
on preaching. These are missionary men in the true 
sense. 

Second. Men that contribute liberally of their sub- 
stance to support those who are devoted to preaching, 
and see that their money goes to the men that do the 
work. These are missionary men also in the true 
sense. 

Third. Men who devise plans, inaugurate missions, 
and call on other people to give the money, stand 
ready where the money comes out, or at the mission- 
ary box, to catch it, and propose, when they get 
$10,000, to send somebody to preach ! These may be 
great on devising, planning and inaugurating ; but we 
can not work ourself into the belief that they are mis- 
sionary men in the true sense. We want to see some 
proposition for them to go ; and we want to know that 
they are going. This hanging on to rich churches and 
fine salaries, and proposing to receive the money of 
the people, and send somebody to preach, is not " the 
Lord's plan," nor any other that will stand in the day 
of judgment. 

The people of God can find plenty of good preachers 



BOOK OF GEMS. 245 

whom they know to be worthy, who are devoted to 
preaching the gospel, and not ruining or corrupting it, 
to whom they can apply all they can give, and not 
have a dollar consumed by secretary, or any " middle 
man," but all will go to the laborer who is worthy of 
his hire — to the man that does the work. The means 
thus given will do four times as much work as if sent 
through so many hands, and all go as intended by the 
donor. The work is not a local work, and needs no 
concentration of funds, but is at the door of every 
man, and the way is open for every man that has it in 
him to do anything, to do according to the ability that 
the Lord gives. 



•» «<• 



INFLUENCE OF THE DANCE. 



6^yNE dancing-master in a community, with some 
concessions of a preacher who has an easy con- 
science on the follies of the age, a little in his 
favor, with one saw of his bow across the strings of an 
old fiddle, will inveigle a whole community of wild 
and thoughtless young people into the dance and hold 
them there half a night, and not one of them will com- 
plain of the long meeting. Restraining these influences 
is not so easy. It requires a combined effort of all the 
godly. We have done all we could to restrain those 
terrible demoralizing influences, and a noble band of 
as true men and women as live have stood by us and 



246 BOOK OF GEMS. 

encouraged us by extending their patronage and words 
of comfort. Truly are we thankful to these and to the 
Lord who has put it into their hearts to do what they 
have to aid us. We have this consciousness, that 
to the best of our ability we have done our part. We 
have tried all the time to exercise the best wisdom we 
could, and have continually implored the Lord for 
wisdom and strength to perform the difficult part of 
the work, in the providence of God committed to our 
hand. 



•»■ ■+• 



NO MODIFICATION OF THE DIVINE PLAN. 



JtO modification of principle has ever made any 
; impression on our mind, only the impression 
Y that he who proposes it, is ready for hack- sliding. 
There are some principles that are self-evidently 
right. They can not be modified. We may depart 
from them, but can not modify them. The law of 
God is supreme in its authority. It is absolute. 
Those of us who have taken it can stand by and 
maintain it, on the one hand, or depart from it on the 
other. We can not change it or modify it. There are 
but two things for men to do, who are not under the 
law of God. One is to come under the law. The 
other is to reject it. There are also but two things for 
those who have come under it. One is to observe it. 
The other is to abandon it. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 247 

We are thankful to be assured that the great body 
of those who have come under the law of the Great 
King, are well pleased with him and his law. They 
regard it as holy, just and good, and regard every 
man who departs from it untrue. The true stand by 
it, and the untrue depart from it. 

But, we have a few claims to put in for the law of 
King Jesus, and we want the attention of our liberal 
men to these claims : 

We claim for the law of King Jesus that it is most 
magnanimous and liberal. It excels in its liberality 
all laws ever published. It offers citizenship to all 
who will come and be naturalized, with full, free and 
equal rights. It offers to all, the privilege of becom- 
ing children in the heavenly family by adoption, and 
makes them all heirs of God and joint heirs with 
Christ, on the same terms. It offers the same pardon 
and on the same terms to all the world. It offers the 
same divine designations to all, the same gospel, and 
the same spirit of life ; the same Bible, and the same 
law for all. The same grace of God has appeared to 
all men. God is no respecter of persons, but he who 
fears and works righteousness is accepted with him. 
It has the same liberal terms of union and commun- 
ion for all who come to God. 



248 BOOK OF GEMS* 



ONE WAY TO GOD. 




E will, for the sake of the inexperienced, state 
the argument. When we set forth the way, as 

^^r laid down in Scripture, we are in the affirma- 
tive — must show it to be the way, maintain and defend 
it. When some other way is affirmed, we affirm noth- 
ing and have nothing to prove, but simply deny. It 
is no part of our work to prove that there is no other 
way. We simply have nothing to prove. Let him 
who affirms that there is some other way prove it. Call 
on him for his proof, and in default of any proof he 
loses the case. He trusts his soul, and tries to induce 
others to trust their souls, on another way, for which 
he can bring no proof. This is the " vantage ground." 
The way is in the Bible, and can be easily pointed out. 
Another way is not in it, and can not be pointed out. 
Let him try it who pleases — it simply can not be done. 
Charitable or uncharitable, narrow or broad, liberal or 
illiberal, another way can not be pointed out in the 
book of God. 

Let there be no cavil. We are speaking of gospel 
subjects, and the way set forth for them to come to God. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 249 



POPULAR UNION MEETINGS. 



UPPOSE a modern popular revivalist such as Mr. 
Moody, in one of his great meetings should tell 
his audience that he would read the great com- 
mission of our Lord to his apostles, and proceed to 
read as follows : 

" Go you, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 
them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit ; teaching them to observe all things 
whatever I have commanded you." 

" Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall 
be saved ; but he that believes not shall be damned ? " 

Then, suppose he should follow this up with* the 
words of Peter, in reply to the three thousand on Pen- 
tecost, when they inquired, "What shall we do?" 
when he said, " Repent, and be baptized every one of 
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," 
or that he should also quote the instructions of Ananias 
to Saul : " Why do you tarry ? Arise, and be baptized, 
and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the 
Lord;" what think you would become of the great 
union meeting and the wonderful co-operation of so 
many parties ? They would disperse almost as rapidly 
as the Jews did from our Lord when he overthrew the 
tables of the money changers and drove them out of 
the temple. They would hear him no more. 



250 BOOK OF GEMS. 

These great union meetings, in which many of dif- 
ferent parties unite and co-operate, put a part of the 
word of God — the language of the Spirit of God — on 
the same level with their partisan peculiarities and 
opinions, and ignore all together, the human and the 
divine ! They make no difference between the human 
and divine, in ignoring, but simply ignore the matters 
in which they do not agree, no matter whether human 
or divine. We make this difference ; we ignore all 
that is liuman y and recognize all that is divine. The 
true union ground is the divine. We are not to unite 
simply on what we agree about. We may agree in 
the wrong — the erroneous — the false. The true ground 
is to ignore everything that did not come from God, 
and recognize everything that did come from God. The 
entire revelation from God to man is that on which to 
unite. All included in that is of supreme authority, 
and all not included in that is of no authority at all. 

Men may join in union meetings, co-operate in them 
or unite permanently in them, but so long as they are 
alliances, leagues or confederations, in an understood, 
settled and persistent ignoring of clear instructions 
from the Lord in reference to the way of salvation, the 
approbation of the Lord will not be there. It matters 
nothing about the number that unite in these meetings, 
nor the variety of different parties, nor how many con- 
versions may be claimed, the approbation of the Lord 
is not there so long as his authority is ignored in defer- 
ence to people that do not receive it. 

These meetings, the different parties pushing into 
them, and the various preachers participating in them, 
are simply demonstrations of the confused state of the 
public mind. Neither the preachers nor the people a re 



BOOK OF GEMS. 251 

settled. They are out at sea and ready for anything 
new, or anything better, but know not where to find it. 
They have become so bewildered that they can trust 
in almost anything, except the clear revelation of God. 
Whatever a man thinks is right, that is right to him, 
unless he thinks the law of God is right. They can 
not admit that that is right if a man does think it is 
right ! But it is rights whether they think it is right 
or not, and will be right for ever and ever. 



• » » -+m 



WHERE IS THE ARMY OF THE LORD ? 



fHEEE, then, is the army of the Lord ? It is not 
in an aggregated body, some vast assembly 
headed by great clergymen, making display and 
show, of imposing ceremonies and vast assemblies. 
Like the ancient disciples, they are " scattered abroad," 
and are going " everywhere preaching the word." In 
their humble homes, their neighborhoods, among plain 
and sincere people, they are sowing the good seed of 
the kingdom of God, training their children in the 
way of the Lord, and, by their godly lives, personal 
influence and pious instructions, spreading the knowl- 
edge of God, and building up congregations. These 
are scattered in all these States, and in all the princi- 
pal Territories in our countries. Some of them are 
found in all the British Provinces, except Newfound- 
land, in America, in England, Ireland and Scotland, in 



252 BOOK OF OEMS. ' 

Wales and Australia, as also in Jamaica. If we could 
enumerate these, we should find a larger army of them 
than many think. All of these, true to their princi- 
ples, and at work where the work is in their reach, 
and most convenient to them, and so far as they, in 
any respect, promote the work, advance the cause, 
and build up the kingdom of God, they are co-operat- 
ing in the same great work of saving man, and are 
•' laborers together with God." Their work is " asso- 
ciated effort " in spreading the knowledge of God, and 
filling the world with his glory. They are standing 
together as one man, and " striving for the hope of the 
gospel." 



H* *♦" 



FUTURE SUCCESS OF THE LORD'S ARMY. 




E believe that the heart of the great body is 
true as ever, and that the army is stronger than 
^ ever, and there never was a greater determina- 
tion to maintain every word that proceeds out of the 
mouth of the Lord, than at the present time. A vast 
army of young men are rising, true as ever lived, de- 
termined to maintain their ground, and will maintain 
it till the last. The pens of many are already em- 
ployed, and many more are ready for the conflict. 
Thousands of preachers are in the field fighting the 
battle, and more are coming, and the ground will be 
maintained every inch. The Almighty Arm is under- 
neath and will carry the work on. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 253 



FEET WASHING. 



(INHERE is no evidence in Scripture, or in any early 
writing, of any such practice as washing feet, in 
time of worship, or associated with worship, 
either public or private, as a religious rite, an ordi- 
nance, an act of devotion, or in any other way. There 
is no intimation that the washing of the saints' feet 
alluded to, I. Tim. v. 10, was a religious rite, or an 
ordinance connected with worship, any more than 
lodging strangers. It is put down in the list of " good 
works," and not religious rites or devotions. 

In like manner, the feet washing mentioned, John 
xiii. 1-10, was not in time of worship, nor at the time 
of the Passover, but "before the feast of the Pass- 
over," and after supper, or " supper being ended," he 
" rose from supper and laid aside his garments, and 
took a towel, and girded himself." This was not in 
public at all, but in. the private circle. It was not in 
a meeting, nor in time of worship at all, but after a 
common meal. The washing of feet was not a new 
thing with them, nor were any surprised at feet wash- 
ing, for it was common, and a necessity. That which 
was new about it, was for the Lord and Master to 
wash the servants' feet. Had the order been for the 
servant to wash the Master's feet, there would have 
been nothing new to them in it. But they were 
abashed at the idea of their Lord and Master washing 



254 BOOK OF GEMS. 

their feet. With this view, Peter said, "Lord, dost 
thou wash my feet ?" The Lord responded, " What I 
do you know not now ; but you shall know hereafter." 
Peter persisted, not against feet washing, but against 
the Lord washing his feet. " Thou shalt never wash 
my feet." 

If washing the saints' feet had been a religious rite 
connected with the communion, how could Paul have 
omitted it, when giving that which he received of the 
Lord ? See I. Cor. xi. 20-34. He says, " I received of 
the Lord that which I delivered to you." He then 
proceeds to tell us what it was. See I. Cor. xi. 23-25. 
This was instituted on " the same night in which the 
Lord was betrayed." The occasion of the feet wash- 
ing (John xiii. 1-10) was not on " the same night in 
which the Lord was betrayed," but " before the feast 
of the Passover." The feast of the Passover was over 
before the communion was instituted. We think the 
following is true in regard to the matter : That the 
feet washing was before the Passover, and the institu- 
tion of the communion was after it ; that two days 
intervened, and that the two things done were also at 
two places, the one at one place and the other at 
another. The washing of feet did not occur at the 
same time nor in the same place of the institution of 
the communion, nor is there the least evidence that 
it ever was practiced in connection with the communion 
in the primitive church, nor is there the least authority 
for it. 

We have never witnessed anything of the kind, but 
we have been informed repeatedly that where they 
practice this ceremony now, they only wash one foot 
of each person. We would like to know where they 
get this. It is not in John xiii. 1-10. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 255 



SUCCESS TO GOOD MEN. 




'flffl E desire to see every man succeed who is for the 
" right way of the Lord," and hope the Lord and 

^ his people will hold up the hands of every such 
man. We know the Lord will hold up the hands of 
every such man ; never leave him nor forsake him ; 
but will grant hin* grace and glory, and withhold from 
him no good thing; and we know, too, his people, 
when they have time to reflect and the means of know- 
ing before them, will stand by the good and true, the 
sincere and faithful. They will let religious adven- 
turers pass, and turn their backs on them. They want 
no charlatans under the garb of religious teachers. 
Be good and true, faithful and honest, sincere and 
sound, in the true sense, and there is no danger of the 
people getting to think you are unsound. 



256 BOOK OF OEMS. 



OUR PLEA. 




r UE straightforward an.d direct appeal to the 
people to turn their backs on all that is human 
and accept all that is divine ; on all that is of 
earth, and receive all that is from heaven ; to open the 
Scriptures and receive all that came from the Lord, as 
set forth in his own' revelation ; receive the religion of 
Christ itself, as he has laid it before the world, in his 
own word, and nothing else, is so manifestly correct, 
indisputably safe and right, that it can not fail to 
strike the mind favorably. It is simply a plea to turn 
away from all human religions, and except the only 
divine religion. This is the sum and substance of the 
whole, matter. We have thrown overboard all that is 
human, and simply maintain what is divine. If the 
Bible can be maintained over all human books ; if the 
religion of Christ can be maintained over all human 
religions ; if the doctrine of the Lord, and the com- 
mandments of God, can be maintained over the 
doctrines and commandments of men ; if " the right 
way of the Lord," can be maintained over the wrong 
ways of men, then the plea we have been making can 
be maintained. 

But we should not expect to revolutionize the public 
mind at once. Such a thing is impossible in the 
nature of things, and is not desirable. We could not 
maintain the position if gained in that way. We 



BOOK OF GEMS. 257 

desire a healthy and a reliable state of things. Sudden 
revolutions always leave things in an unsettled state. 
A gradual change is transcendently better. It is, 
then, not of impulse, sensation or emotion, but of 
faith. "When the testimony comes to the mind grad- 
ually, and the faith becomes stronger and stronger, it 
finally rises to " the full assurance of faith ;" a settled 
conviction, and the soul is established. But the leaven 
is working in the meal, much faster than many are 
aware of, and the mind of the people is changing, and 
the way is opening more and more. We have never 
seen a reason for a doubt about the righteousness of 
the cause, and the possibility of maintaining it, since 
the day we entered it. We are now as firm in the 
conviction that it is the only true ground, and the 
only gronnd that can be maintained, and the only 
ground on which all the true Israel of God can nnite 
and stand, as we are that the Bible is a divine book. 
In all this the past year has furnished additional 
assurances. 



258 BOOK OF GEMS. 



NO CAMPBELLITES. 



^HERE is no such tiling in this country as Camp - 
bellism, nor is there any such body of people as 
Campbellites. There is a people in this country 
that have gone back to our Lord to learn what he gave 
to the apostles and authorized them to preach, and to 
the apostles and learned what they preached to the 
world, and what they taught the church ; who receive 
what the apostles preached and taught, and believe it 
in full ; no more, no less. In this they claim to receive 
the religion of Christ itself, as he and his authorized 
ambassadors set it forth. They receive and believe it 
on the authority of its divine founder, the Lord, from 
heaven, and enforce it on all who hear them, as the 
only complete, perfect and divine system in the world ; 
the only true religion ; the religion of Christ itself. 
They claim to be Christians, followers of Christ, chil- 
dren of God. The body to which they belong is simply 
the body of Christ, the kingdom of God, the church. 
Christ is their head ; their infallibility. They believe 
on him. They obey him. They hope for all he has 
promised, and fear all he has threatened. To be in 
him is to be in his body, in the kingdom, in the church, 
to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. They receive 
him and all he has said, but reject all that did not 
come from him. This is no Campbellism, nor Meth- 
odism ; but the religion of Christ itself. That is what 



BOOK OF GEMS. 259 

we are for, and we are for it because it is from Grod, 
and has the authority of God in it. 



H* *♦" 



CONVERTING THE CITIES. 



f^HEY must "be brought to know that they must be 
revolutionized, created anew, conformed to Christ, 
and then taught to worship according to the 
Scriptures. The work is not to be done by wholesale, 
nor by the device of man. Nor need we think we can 
take the great cities by getting a few rich or popular 
men. We must preach the gospel to the people, the 
whole people, and turn them. The gospel invariably 
commences with the humbler classes, and works up 
through them till it reaches all grades. It did not 
commence by converting emperors, kings, or gover- 
nors ; nor did it reach these for a long time. It did 
not commence by converting rich men, but mainly 
with the poor ; but in time reached the rich. It did 
not commence with converting priests, but after a 
time we read that a great number of priests became 
obedient to the faith. 

In the main, this has been the case in our time. 
We commenced with the humbler people in the cities 
and have reached through to every class. We gained 
the attention of vast numbers of people in the coun- 
try, and turned them to the Lord, when they were 



260 BOOK OF GEMS. 

poor. They have been prospered, and gained wealth ; 
gone to the cities, and thns augmented the churches 
there ; but, in many instances, they are not the good 
people they were, nor loving and maintaining the truth 
as they once did. 



• » ■*! 



A HAPPY MEETING. 




T Lower Blue Lick, in Robertson County, Ken- 
tucky, in the month of September, 1875, Elder 
Franklin met his beloved father in the gospel 
and veteran in the cause of reformation, Eld. Samuel 
Rogers. He thus describes the happy meeting, and 
expresses his high regard for a true man of God : 

One morning when we were in the stand, waiting a 
few minutes for the audience to assemble and become 
composed, we saw once more the venerable form of 
Samuel Rogers, making his way up the aisle. We 
could scarcely restrain our emotions when we saw the 
old saint, bringing before our mind in visible form 
what has been our lifetime idea of one of the old 
prophets. We met him in the aisle, when he spoke out 
with the tears tracing down his noble face : " Bro. Ben, 
I am in the land of the dead and dying, but shall soon 
be in the land of the living." We could give utter- 
ance to no words. Peter said, in the mountain of trans- 
figuration : " It is good for us to be here." So it was 



BOOK OF GEMS. 261 

to us on this occasion. More than forty years had 
elapsed since we first saw him, and he appeared to ns 
old then. He is now in his eighty-sixth year. He sees 
to read without glasses by holding the print close to 
his eyes, and hears better than when we saw him last. 
He converses with readiness and ease, and his voice is 
remarkably good. His plain and striking comparisons 
are as ready as ever. He styles a dry and prosing 
exhortation, after a good sermon, " snow in August." 
He tells a preacher, trying to be learned and profound 
in his preaching, that he " puts the fodder too high up 
in the rack-rthe sheep can't reach it." The main 
trouble is that there is no " fodder " there. He says : 
" We used to have men and women, but now we have 
ladies and gentlemen" He says he still eats his din- 
ner and supper "and lets the rest of them dine and 
take tea. 

When at home he spends many hours alone, and 
some of the friends inquired whether he did not get 
lonesome. "No," said he, " I never get lonesome. I 
talk to the Lord and he talks to me. I talk to him in 
my prayers, and he talks to me in the Bible." This is 
keeping good company, and a glorious way to keep 
from getting lonesome. He reads up and keeps fully 
posted in all that is transpiring among us, and is fully 
alive to all the dangers now threatening the cause — 
the insidious steps now tending to undermine and over- 
throw all we have done. Still, like Paul, none of these 
things move him. He is firm as the everlasting hills. 
He has settled convictions and purposes, and can not 
be turned away from them. He can see, as Solomon 
says, that "one sinner destroyeth much good," but 
adheres to another saying of much importance from 



262 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the same source : " Fret not thyself because of evil- 
doers." The Lord is with him and he is as happy as 
he can be, full of love and good-will to God and man. 
Thanks be to God for the faith of Christ that has the 
power to bear up the spirit, to console and comfort him 
in extreme old age, and opens to his view, now that 
he is about to let go this world, " a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens ;" and now that he 
is about to surrender up this life, that opens to his view 
a life that never ends. Blessed be the Lord who is 
pleased thus to deal tenderly and kindly with him in 
his near approach to another world. 



• » ■ •*• 



CHURCH DECISIONS. 



JO) UT may not public opinion, or even the Church, 
^\ decide wrong? It may, and, no doubt, does 
[ sometimes. So may any court, man can establish; 
and it may turn out that the world may become so 
bad, or the church may become so perverted or cor- 
rupted, that a man can not get a fair decision. Still, 
it is the best that can be done, for us all to be free 
alike, before the court of public opinion, and the 
church, and if we should get a wrong decision here, 
the last or final appeal is to the court of heaven, to 
the judgment of the Great Day. But in a country 
like this, where a man has been among a people all 
his life ; been an upright and true man j conducted 



BOOK OF GEMS. 263 

himself with consistency and propriety; there must 
be something very singular in his course, and pecu- 
liar indeed, if he can not get a fair hearing and decision 
from public opinion, or from the church. There must 
be something very peculiar in his course to unsettle 
their confidence ; to start doubts in their minds in 
reference to his soundness ; to fill the public mind 
with distrust. There must be something not straight- 
forward. 



REIGN OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 




E know of no proof that the righteous will be 
raised a thousand years before the wicked. 

^ The Lord says, " The hour is coming when all 
that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall 
come forth ; they that have done good to the resurrec- 
tion of life, and they that have done evil to the resur- 
rection of damnation." We see no thousand years 
between the resurrection of those that have done good 
and those that have done evil here. 

The quotation from John v. 28-29, above, connects 
the coming of Christ and the resurrection, and the 
following connects the coming of Christ and the judg- 
ment : "I charge you, therefore, before God and the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the 
dead at Ms appearing (his coming) and kingdom." 



264 BOOK OF GEMS. 

II. Tim. iv. 1. Other Scriptures show the same. At 
the close of Matt. xxv. it will be seen, as it is from 
other Scriptures, that all will be judged at the same 
time, and at the same time that the righteous " enter 
into life eternal" the wicked "go away into everlast- 
ing punishment." This connects the coming of Christ, 
the resurrection, the judgment, the separation of the 
righteous and the wicked, and the entrance into life 
on the one hand, and the going away into everlasting 
punishment on the other hand. 

We listened to the Millerites in 1843, read pretty 
much all they wrote about a thousand years' reign 
of Christ, between the resurrection of those who are 
Christ's "and those who are not his, and whatever the 
thousand years may mean in words, " the rest of the 
dead lived not again till the thousand years were 
ended," we find no clear evidence of its coming 
between the resurrection of the righteous and the 
wicked. Sundry Scriptures show that the judgment 
of all, will be at the same time. 

Christ sitting on the throne of David does not make 
him a king, in the temporal sense, as David was, but 
only that he is in the royal family, and, in the sense 
of that Scripture, he is now in that reign, and not to 
be in the Millennium. In the end he will deliver up 
the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall 
put down all rule, and all authority and power. For 
he must reign till he has put all enemies under his 
feet. See I. Cor. xv. 24, 25. " When all things shall 
be subdued to him, then shall the Son also himself be 
subject to him, who put all things under him, that God 
may be all in all." I. Cor. xv. 28. The Lord has 
come to receive a kingdom, and is now reigning over 



BOOK OF GEMS. 265 

that kingdom — a kingdom not of this world — and on 
David's throne, in the only sense he ever will be. 



METHODIST CLERICAL PRETENSIONS. 



fHO duly appointed the ministry in the Methodist 
body ? A body that is not, and admits that it 
is not, the body of Christ! Where did this 
body get authority to appoint a ministry ? It has no 
authority to appoint any thing in the kingdom of God. 
Who "divinely called" the ministry in the Methodist 
body ? Not the Lord, for he has no Methodist body. 
He never called a man to minister in a body that he 
never authorized. The men called in that body were 
not called of God at all, nor divinely called. They 
either called themselves, or were called by a body that 
has no divine authority in it, and therefore are not 
divinely called. Nor are they divinely qualified. The 
apostles were divinely qualified. They had the Holy 
Spirit to guide them into all truth. They never 
preached any Methodism, nor built up any Methodist 
churches. They never authorized a Methodist steward, 
class-leader, circuit-rider, presiding elder, or bishop, 
any more than they authorized that unmeaning bread 
and water love-feast, the band-society, the class-meet- 
ing, circuit or conference, either quarterly, annual or 
general. The Methodist church has not a duly-ap- 
pointed ministry, a divinely-called and sent, or divine- 



266 BOOK OF GEMS. 

ly-qualified ministry in it. Its worship, ordinances 
and discipline are not duly nor s crip tur ally admin- 
istered. Indeed, it has but little in it that bears any 
similitude to the original church. To talk of its hav- 
ing a divinely-qualified ministry will strike any one a 
little acquainted with the Scriptures with peculiar force. 
A more absurd idea could hardly be uttered. 

The apostles were divinely called, sent and quali- 
fied, and should one of them appear in a Methodist 
revival, where persons are " seeking religion," crying, 
" What shall we do ? " as they did on Pentecost, and 
answer as Peter did on that occasion, " Repent, and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ 
for the remission of sins," in the place of the loud 
response, "Amen," dismay would run all along the 
line, and the divinely -qualified ministry would want 
the divinely-qualified apostle out of the meeting. His 
voice would be a strange voice in their meeting. If 
he were to tell the seekers, as Ananias did Saul, "Why 
do you tarry ? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away 
your sins, calling on the name of the Lord," they 
would soon want him out of their meeting. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 267 



MOODY AND SANKEY. 



'HE albove named men referred to in the following, 
were popular evangelists among the sects, and, 
though not educated for the ministry, or ordained 
to that holy calling, performed all the functions of 
those divines who claim to be called and sent of God. 
The recognition they received in the great cities of the 
land, by clergymen of all sects, Bro. Franklin re- 
garded as a surrender of their clerical pretensions 
and as equivalent to an acknowledgment of the fact 
that any christian man, possessed of good christian 
character, and a knowledge of the word of Gfod, may 
preach the word. 

J. A. H. 

In the operations of Moody and Sankey, as also 
others that have conceived virtually the same idea, 
and their surroundings, we have some lessons of much 
importance. To some of these we now invite atten- 
tion: 

In all the principal parties there are some clerical 
pretensions. They nearly all have some kind of cleri- 
cal standard, that a man must pass, to enter into holy 
orders at all. They have some kind of regular pro- 
cess through which a man must pass, to be an author- 
ized minister, or to be permitted to minister in holy 
things at all, or to make ordinances valid administered 



268 BOOK OF GEMS. 

"by his hands, or to give him official grace and func- 
tions. But here come Moody and Sankey, Whittle 
and Bliss, or Hammond, without ever having been 
tried by the clerical standard, or ever having passed 
through the regular process to holy orders, and never 
made clergymen at all, preaching and exercising min- 
isterial functions . All sorts of clergymen are rally- 
ing to them, recognizing and indorsing their work ! 
"What becomes of clerical pretensions in all this? 
Clergymen of all sorts recognizing and indorsing 
laymen preaching, and laymen exercising all the 
functions of the ministry, who have never been meas- 
ured by the ministerial standard, and never have been 
made clergymen. In this they are conceding that their 
clerical pretensions and claims are empty — that there 
is nothing in them, that men that have never been 
measured by the standard, nor made clergymen at all, 
have as good a right to preach and minister in holy 
things as they. In this they concede that the clerical 
cloak is nothing, and that men can and may right- 
fully preach the word of God, without having it on. 
The people ought to lay hold of this concession, read 
the Scriptures, learn them and teach others, and thus 
go on till they fill the earth with the knowledge of 
God. No man need wait to have clerical hands laid 
on him to authorize to preach Jesus, or teach the 
saints in the way of righteousness. To know the 
gospel and the teaching of Christ, and be able to 
preach Christ and teach saints the way to heaven, pre- 
pares any man to preach and teach. To appear in a 
proper manner and exercise a good influence in 
preaching and teaching, a man must be a christian, and 
have a good life as such, a life of piety and devotion, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 269 

corresponding to the preaching and teaching. Bnt a 
man is in no shape to appear before the world as a 
preacher of Christ, and a teacher in the kingdom of 
God, who has no standing in the chnrch of God, where 
his home is, and a good recommendation to satisfy 
those abroad that his standing is good at home. 



Y+ <•" 



TOO LATE FOR THE CARS. 



.N going to the depot we found our information 
about car time was wrong, and .we got to the 
depot just in time to see the train go out and 
leave us. This has two lessons in it : 1. That it is 
not true " that what a man thinks is right, is right to 
him." The time we tlwugM was right proved not to 
be rigid. 2. That we ought to be cautious about say- 
ing, " There is time enough yet." 



270 BOOK OF GEMS. 



LORD'S DAY MEETINGS. 

|* HUECHES should not Ibe compelled to hear preach- 
ing every Lord's day, and that the dullest and 
dry est kind, from the same man, the same thing, 
over and over again ; but instead of this, have a variety 
of good songs ; sundry readings of interesting Scrip- 
tures, from different persons, each occupying from five 
to ten minutes, with two or three prayers at suitable 
intervals, and words of exhortation. The overseer 
who can so conduct these matters as to interest the 
whole congregation, develop and bring out the most 
talent, and make the whole the most conducive to the 
edification of all, is the most efficient and successful 
overseer, whether he can preach or not himself. No 
man, overseer or not, ought to appear before the people 
publicly more than is acceptable to them. Many men 
kill themselves off by talking too much and being too 
officious. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 271 



LAYING THE CORNER STONE OF A CATHOLIC 

CATHEDRAL. 



"fO)UT what was to Ibe done? "What was all this 
^ ?1 about ? We are ashamed, for humanity's sake, 
qJ[' to tell. It was to see a bishop pow-wow over a 
corner stone. Mess it and lay it for a Romish meeting 
house ! That was what all this was about ! What 
was there in that ? No more than any other pagan 
ceremony. No more than to see any other Irishman 
laying any other stone or brick in any other building, 
aside from tradition and superstition. This is the 
procedure of the Anti-christ, the Man of Sin, the 
power gone out to deceive the whole world with sor- 
ceries ; a compound of Judaism, Paganism and Chris- 
tianity, but described in the book of G-od as the 
Apostasy. It has corrupted the four quarters of the 
earth with its abominations and idolatries. It has 
two hundred millions of the human race under its 
domination. It has caused the blood of fifty millions 
of martyrs to flow. But the tide is receding. The 
wheel is turning back. His secular power has de- 
parted. He does not have Victor Emmanuel to bow 
down and kiss his great toe, nor to come and crave 
favors of him. But he goes to Victor Emmanuel to 
know what favors he can have. This puts the shoe 
on the other foot. Prince Bismarck banishing the 
Jesuits from Germany, is another turn in the same 



272 BOOK OF GEMS. 

direction. The revolution in Mexico is in the same 
direction. The Pope gets no favors in all these moves. 
He is strengthening his hands in the United States a 
little just now, but this is only temporary, and, we 
trust, will only serve to open the eyes of the people 
in this country. Our people need a few demonstra- 
tions to rouse them from their slumbers. They need 
to be made sensible who they are that want their 
drinking saloons, and want them open on Sundays, 
that intend to parade our streets with bands of music 
and long processions on the Lord's day, who they are 
that are trying to undermine our common schools and 
ruin them, who they are that publish in our faces that 
our marriages are all null and void — that we are all 
living in adultery because we were not married by 
priests ! We need a little more of this impudence in 
our faces to rouse us up and cause us to see the viper 
we have taken into our bosoms, and see what claim 
this Mystery of Iniquity has on our charities. 

It refuses to allow its adherents to become mem- 
bers of the Masonic order, because it is a secret Order. 
The trouble is that it is a secret Order itself, with its 
sworn members and bound, priests, its prowling Jes- 
uits, nuns and friars, the most dangerous and com- 
plete and perfect — the consummation of all secret 
Orders, from the hired girl in the kitchen, and the 
hired man on the farm, up through every position 
held, every situation in life, and every office held by a 
Papist, to communicate intelligence to a set of men 
bound up in this Order of secrecy, who are not even 
citizens in our Government, that they may report to 
the Holy See in Rome ! It is a secret, Pagan and 
Jewish mixture with Christianity ; an intriguing, in.- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 273 

sidious and stealthy scheme, prying into the secrets 
of every nook and corner of every land, and every 
move of every civil government on earth, and a friend 
to no civil government on the face of the earth, only 
so far as it can Tbe made subservient to the purposes 
of the Pope. 

The new Cardinal in this country is a minion of the 
Pope, and, without being a citizen of the United States, 
when he pleases to do so, will control the vote of some 
six millions of our population ; and this all done by 
the secret workings of the Papacy, without any man 
seeing the secret wires that are pulled to do it. These 
priests, bound all over by religious vows or oat7is, in a 
secret conclave, plan schools to be taught by nuns, all 
in the secret Order, and gather up vagrant children, 
while many of their own children are beggars, to make 
Romanists of them, and shut them out from the light 
of the common schools and colleges of this country. 

Then how do these priests propose to gain power ? 
Do they propose to come out in open day ; publicly 
teach the people and enlighten them ? Not a word of 
it. Do they propose to discuss their claims ? Not a 
bit of it. How then are they doing this work ? Insidi- 
ously. It is all in the dark, except an occasional 
demonstration like that we had here on the first Lord's 
day in July. What were the people taught on that 
day ? Did any one hear any instruction ? Thousands 
of dollars were expended. Thousands of people were 
weary and exhausted, but no one was enlightened. No 
one was taught even Pomanism, except those, who 
from the word of God have learned the power of the 
grand delusion, the mystery of iniquity that now 
works. They can understand the power of the sor- 
ceries practiced to deceive and allure unwary souls. 



274 BOOK OF GEMS. 



UNIVERSALISM UNBELIEF. 

HE mission of unbelief, in this direction, is — 

First. To force the Bible to agree with the 
Atheist, in theory, that a man's conduct in this 
life, no matter what it may be, can not destroy his 
happinesss in another life. 

Second. That there shall be no reward in another 
world, for virtue, righteousness and obedience ren- 
dered to God in this life. 

Third. That there shall be no punishments in the 
world to come, for disobedience, corruption, and 
crime, committed in this life. 

Fourth. That the death of Christ amounts to noth- 
ing, as the consequences of sin all follow now, and 
fall upon man just as they did before he died. 

Fifth. That repentance amounts to nothing, as the 
punishment of sin is simply the natural result of a 
violation of a natural law, and must follow its viola- 
tion whether you repent or not. 

Sixth. That there is no pardon of sin — that as you 
put your hand in the fire, the burn must follow — as 
you spend your money, you must become poor — as 
you dissipate, your physical energies must be im- 
paired ; so, as you sin, in all cases the penalty must 
follow. 

Seventh. All this being conceded, the grace of God 
is at an end. There is no such an attribute as mercy 
in the government of Jehovah. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 275 

Eighth. So love of God is manifested either in 
the life or death of Jesus, nor has his death produced 
any change in the world. 

No wonder that infidels hail this theory with joy- 
fulness, flock around the Universalian preacher, and 
call him " brother." His operations are fatal to the 
Bible, to the mission and divine authority of the Lord 
Jesus, and better calculated to turn the whole subject 
of religion into ridicule, than any open infidelity ever 
advocated in the world. By this kind of circumlocu- 
tion, the Bible is now sought to be subverted, and its 
influence upon the world destroyed. But all men of 
discernment can see, that this is only a scheme to pull 
down and destroy — that it has no efficacy to save, to 
make good, or improve mankind — that it can do no 
good, in any event, to one soul of our race, either in 
this world or the world to come. It is only an instru- 
ment, one of the most effectual instruments of unbe- 
lief, in destroying all good, all virtue, and all piety. 



276 BOOK OF GEMS. 



PERSONALITY OF THE DEVIL. 

E1STYING the personality of the Devil. Here we 
have more negative preaching — more denying. 
"What a world of gospel there is in this ! Who 
is to be saved by denying the personality of the Devil ? 
Who is comforted and built up with this sort of stuff? 
The infidel laughs. The Universalist nods assent ; but 
who repents ? The scoffer is delighted. That is the 
man for him ! But does he quit scoffing ? We have 
recently heard of a man who had stripped his feet bare 
after a rain of a warm summer's day, and, walking up 
through the mud to an old preacher, denied the per- 
sonality of the Devil; when the preacher, pointing 
behind the man, replied : " He must be alive said per- 
sonal, for there is his track fresh in the mud ! " An- 
other preacher allowed that when the Devil has a man 
so completely blinded that he does not believe there is 
any Devil, or that he is a personal being, he never 
expects to have any more trouble with him. He will 
never listen to the truth any more. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 277 



CLERICAL YOUNG PASTORS. 



f 'HAT there should Ibe occasionally a young man, 
with the views that have been fostered and en- 
couraged "by some among us, of a " pastorate," 
who would assume authority to cast persons out of the 
church, and give letters of commendation, is not 
strange. There were some even in the time of the 
apostles, when no such views of a " pastorate " ex- 
isted, who assumed such prerogatives and " prated 
against us " (the apostles.) In III. John *9, 10, we 
have a reference to one of them. " I wrote to the 
church," says John, " but Diotrephes, who loves to 
have the pre-eminence among them, receives us not. 
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds 
which he does, prating against us with malicious 
words: and not content therewith, neither does he 
himself receive the brethren, and forbids them that 
would, and casts them out of the church," We have 
fallen on the track of a few young men, and some old 
ones, of this stripe; but their race is short. The 
brethren, whatever else is true of them, are not pre- 
pared for clerical assumptions. They will not have 
the manacles put on them. Such men will not trouble 
us long. Some of them will go over to sectarianism 
at once, thinking that the shortest road to a "pas- 
torate." Others will go to law, medicine, or to noth- 
ing. But the main body of our young men are true 



278 book or gems. 

and noble in the highest sense, as humble and 
faithful as can be found anywhere. They are study- 
ing to know and do the will of God. We are not 
sure that, as a class, they are not generally sounder 
than their instructors in the gospel. 

We regret to see anything like collision or rivalry 
between old and young preachers. Young men get a 
little fast sometimes, and old men become a little 
cross ; but these matters will all work their way out. 
As a humorous writer said some years ago, after 
writing a long piece about nothing, as a burlesque 
on certain persons, " We are all poor critters." We 
need a great deal of mercy and grace. 

It is a little trying for old men, after toiling a life- 
time in the cause, and when they are struggling under 
the infirmities of age, to be shoved aside, as we know 
some of them are, and treated with contempt by the 
young men who ought to be a comfort and consola- 
tion to them. The cause is the Lord's, and we are 
his, and we shall all give account to him. Let us 
keep pure ourselves, and keep the church pure ; let 
us make a record of which we shall not be ashamed 
when the Lord shall come. We must study to bear 
our burdens, and to do so without murmuring. What 
we can not cure, we must endure. 



BOOK OF GEMS. • 279 



EVERLASTING AND ETERNAL. 



EVERLASTING and eternal are from the same in 
the original. " Everlasting punishment," and not 
everlasting annihilation, nor everlasting extinc- 
tion of being, nor everlasting non-existence, is what 
the Lord threatens. Matt. xxv. 4*6. At the same time 
the righteons enter into "life eternal," the wicked "go 
away into everlasting pnnishment." The original word 
aionion here is translated, in the common version, 
" eternal " in one place, and " everlasting " in the other 
There is no reason for not translating this word the 
same way in both places. It means precisely the same 
in both places. At the same time we repeat, that the 
righteous enter into "life eternal," the wicked "go 
away into eternal punishment." The same word used 
by the Lord, in the same sentence to express the dura- 
tion of the life of the saints, is used to express the 
duration of the punishment of the wicked. It is as 
likely that the life of the saints shall terminate, as 
that the punishment of the wicked shall cease. There 
is no word in any language that more certainly ex- 
presses unlimited duration than this word aionion. It 
is used to express the duration of the life of the saints, 
the praises of God, and even the existence of God. A 
word may be used with less than, its full import, but 
never with more, 



280 . BOOK OF GEMS. 



ENDURING HARDNESS AS GOOD SOLDIERS. 



TpT matters not from what cause we suffer, whether 
*j inability on the part of brethren, or parsimonious- 
l ness, we must bear hardness as good soldiers of 
Jesus Christ, suffer and toil on, for we shall reap if we 
faint not. We must-not raise up a money-loving and 
worldly people ; and in order to this end we must not 
be money-loving preachers, nor worldly men ourselves. 
This is our security against the evil of covetousness. 
We do not believe the Lord will accept meeting in 
two or three conventions in a year, and making three 
or four contributions and a few speeches for missionary 
work. We must have more telling evangelizing than 
this. This kind of work is demoralizing the brethren 
and drying up all the veins of generosity in them. 
We shall have more and more dying churches till we 
change our course and go out into the field as we did 
thirty-five and forty years ago, and hunt up these 
churches and wake them up. We must not live with 
the idea of sending some one to them, but we must go 
lo them ; and they must not be helpless creatures, and 
think to support those who go to their relief by relat- 
ing their stories about their being few and poor, but 
do according to their ability, and not let the preacher 
who visits them sacrifice more than a dozen of them, 
and they only do their little occasionally, and he mak- 
ing his sacrifices every meeting. This will not stand 
in the day of judgment. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 281 



HOW A PREACHER MAY STAND FAIR. 




I LL we have to do to stand right before the people, 
is to be sound in heart, in the faith, in the life ; 
true to the gospel of onr Lord Jesus Christ; 
honest and faithful in the whole matter ; maintaining, 
defending, advocating it, as the only divine and gra- 
cious system for the salvation of a lost world ; en- 
forcing it on men for its own sake, and for the sake of 
humanity. Our safety is not in a tribunal of learned 
men, who are censors for us, but in the judgment of 
an intelligent and enlightened brotherhood. They 
render no hasty judgment and make no uncertain de- 
cisions. They do not anathematize nor hate any man. 
They do not pronounce on a man for a single utter- 
ance or an inadvertence. But when a man becomes 
perverse, his general course and bearing evincing 
alienation, and a disposition to be in the wrong — an 
aversion to the good, the true and the faithful — they 
begin to lose their interest in him. Every step he 
takes in the wrong direction lessens the affection for 
him in the hearts of the people of God, till he finds 
himself cut off, if not literally by the action of a 
church, that which is equally as fatal, the general 
turning away from him, and utter failure in any sense 
to support him. 

May we all maintain soundness in the faith, in the 
gospel, integrity to it, faithfulness to it in all things, 



282 BOOK OF GEMS. 

soundness in character, purity and holiness. May we 
strive to live nearer and still nearer to God. 



-«> — <i 



DELAY IN TURNING TO THE LORD. 



j?F a person has delayed turning to the Lord, till 
^j some hindrance conies, so that he can not take the 
I steps, or do what the Lord has commanded, to 
become a christian, he has simply delayed till he can 
not "become a christian. If he defers on any account, 
he simply defers becoming a christian. At some 
point, a man passes the possibility of becoming a 
christian. That point, or period, is generally thought 
to be at death. Some still sing, " While the lamp 
holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return," but 
this is not true. It is true that after death none can 
turn to God, but it is not true that before death all 
can turn to God. The apostle speaks of some men 
who were living in the literal sense, but whom he 
compares to " trees twice dead and plucked up by the 
roots. Such a tree as that never grows again." He 
speaks of other men " past feeling," and others, still 
living, for whom nothing remains "but a fearful look- 
ing for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall 
devour the adversaries," and still others for whom 
nothing remains but " the blackness of darkness for- 
ever." Some are given over to believe the lie and be 
condemned. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 283 

Our opinions are worth nothing in reference to those 
who can not do what the Lord commands. We do 
not know a thing about the salvation of any person 
only as the Lord has promised. He has promised 
that "He who "believes and is immersed, shall be 
saved" and commanded, " Repent, and be immersed 
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the 
remission of sins." He who obeys the command has 
the promise. Outside of this we know nothing about 
it. Not only so, but if we give some charitable opin- 
ions for those who can not obey, or in reference to 
deferring, on account of hindrances, these cases will 
become more frequent, and these opinions will be ap- 
plied not simply to cases where persons can not obey, 
but where they can not conveniently, and in a short 
time we have a system of salvation for those who 
never obey, and the gospel is set aside by our opinions. 

There are but few sick persons that can not be im- 
mersed. We have immersed some half-dozen in the 
most critical situations, and some of them -in less than 
two days of their death, without any physical injury, 
and with great relief to the mind. But we only allude 
to this to show that there are not many cases where it 
is not possible to obey the gospel, and not because 
this is the time to obey. It is not the proper time to 
be baptized, or to make a profession. The proper 
time is when persons first hear and believe the gospel ; 
when their health, and strength, and reason, are unim- 
paired, and they can voluntarily yield themselves to 
the service of God. When we come to die, one promise 
of God is worth more than all the opinions of unin- 
spired men put together. 



284 BOOK OF GEMS. 



WIELDING THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. 



44 (^J^HE sword of the Spirit " is defined by the Spirit 
himself, through Paul. It is the word of God. 
"Why is it called the sword of the Spirit f 
Because the Spirit gave it, and not because he uses or 
wields it. The Spirit gave it to men that they might 
use or wield it. There is not a more unsupported 
theory in this apostate age than the one that teaches 
that the Spirit wields the sword. He did not do this 
even in the age of miracles. Jesus said to his Father 
" The words that thou gavest me I have given them." 
Given to whom? To the apostles. What did he tell 
them to do with these words, or, which is the same, the 
gospel ? He commanded them, " Go into all the world 
and preach the gospel to every creature." Preaching 
the gospel is preaching the word, or wielding the sword 
of the Spirit, which is the word of God. After Jesus 
died and rose and ascended into heaven, he sent the 
Spirit to guide the apostles into all truth ; to bring 
all things to their remembrance. On Pentecost the 
Spirit came, and they spake as the Spirit gave them 
utterance. The history says, " When they heard this " 
— the word spoken — "they were pierced in their 
heart." The Spirit brought the word to their remem- 
brance, and the apostles preached it — spake as the 
Spirit gave them utterance. In Solomon's porch, Peter 
preached, or wielded the sword — the word of God. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 285 

Philip wielded the sword in Samaria. Peter wielded 
trie sword at the house of Cornelius. Paul commanded 
Timothy to " Preach the word." This was wielding 
the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. 

This whole theory albout the word being a dead let- 
ter, whether so intended or not, is the very thing to 
neutralize the gospel, and cause honest people who 
believe the gospel, to wait for some immediate power 
to do something more for them before they come to 
God. This very theory, in the place of being Scrip- 
tural, is directly opposed to the very spirit and inten- 
tion of the Scriptures, and is, we doubt not, charge- 
able with hindering more souls from turning to the 
Lord and receiving the salvation of God than all the 
out-and-out infidelity in the country. They hear the 
word of God — the gospel of their salvation — the power 
of God to salvation to every one that believe it, and 
honestly believe it. They hear the preaching of the 
cross of Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of 
God, and believe it with their whole hearts ; but the 
preacher says you must wait till the Spirit makes it 
effectual, and till the Spirit quickens you and prepares 
you to receive it, about which there is not one word in 
the book of God. 



286 BOOK OF GEMS. 



WE ARE NO SECT. 




E "belong to no sect or heresy, no /' denomina- 
tion," and recognize none in any sense, only as 

^ existing in opposition to the will of God — in a 
rebellion against the government of God. We know- 
sects only as antagonistic powers to the law and king- 
dom of God. They are heretical and schismatical, in 
alienation to each other and to the kingdom of God. 
We find them in no complete union on anything of 
importance, except in opposing the gospel of Christ. 
In this they are a unit. Never did loving brethren 
more completely nnite than they one and all do in 
this. One voice sounding ont the gospel precisely as 
preached by the apostles, and propounding the terms 
of pardon as they came from the embassador of Jesus, 
to whom he gave the keys of the kingdom of God, 
will silence all their jars among themselves, their dif- 
ferences and disputes, and bring them all around side 
by side, facing the common foe. It will call out their 
confusion of tongues, and the cry, " Lo ! here, and lo 
there," will be heard on all hands. The cry is 
raised. " To your tents, O Israel! to your tents ! Dan- 
ger ! danger ! dangerous doctrine ! Do not hear him ! 
Keep away ! keep away ! He will unsettle your views !" 

Why are they all opposed to this ? There is a very 
good reason for it. It is opposed to all of them. In 
its very nature it proposes to sweep them all away. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 287 

It leaves not an inch, of ground for one of them to 
stand on. We came not with a new doctrine, but 
with the gospel of Christ, a distinct entity in itself, 
not only having no fellowship with any other gospel, 
Ibut pronouncing a curse on man or angel who shall 
preach any other, no matter whether near like it or 
not near like it — a perversion of it or mutilation. The 
gospel of Christ itself is the thing to be preached, and 
nothing else ; the power of God to salvation to every 
one that believes ; the preaching of the cross, the 
wisdom of God, and the power of God. To this noth- 
ing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be taken 
away. In this gospel, Christ, the " one Shepherd," is 
presented, and the one kingdom of God, or one body 
of Christ. All the followers of Christ are members of 
this one body, or citizens of this one kingdom. There 
are no " denominations " of them. They are all 
members of his body, citizens of his kingdom by 
faith, the children of Abraham, heirs of God and 
joint-heirs with Christ, saints, holy brethren. They 
know no other king but the " King of kings, and Lord 
of lords. Their King, in his times, will " show w r ho is 
the only Potentate." Their King has no negotiations 
with any other spiritual kings. He puts them down 
against Mm. He has no communications nor nego- 
tiations with Pope Pius, or any other Pope. He has 
no fraternal greetings for any of them, but his Father 
has sworn with an oath that he shall reign till he 
shall put down all rule and all authority and power — 
till he has put all his enemies under his feet. 

The kingdom of Christ recognizes no other king- 
dom. It is an absolute monarchy. Christ is the 
Monarch. He has no Parliament, no Senate or Con- 



288 BOOK OF GEMS. 

gress, no legislative body in his kingdom. As the 
rightful Sovereign and the absolute Monarch, he is the 
Law-giver. His will is the law, as spread on the 
pages of Scripture — the absolute authority- -and his 
subjects have simply to consult the law, ascertain 
what it requires, and obey it. They are not responsi- 
ble for the law. They need not trouble themselves 
about results or consequences. Do as the Supreme 
Authority commands, and leave the consequences 
with him. He is so wise, good and great, that he will 
bring all out right, for all those that put their trust in 
him. His subjects stop not to counsel with those who 
have other laws, to compare them with the law of the 
Lord Messiah, to see how near they are to his, or how 
far from it. They have no authority to make any 
other laws, no matter how near like his law, or how 
far from it. Their business is to throw aside all other 
laws, and accept him as their Monarch, and Ms law, 
and obey it. This is simply all there is of it. He 
who is not for him is against him. 

The citizens of his kingdom have no authority from 
him for negotiating with any sectarian party, about 
union with his people, comparing their views and 
determining how nearly they agree. He has left them 
no discretionary power to compromise with any body, 
or to stipulate terms of union and fellowship. He has 
stipulated the terms for us all. If we comply with 
these terms he receives us, and we are bound to receive 
each other, and certainly will desire to do sb. If we 
comply not with these terms he will not receive us, 
and no saint has any right to receive us. No man has a 
right to prescribe terms on which to receive any man. 
The terms are already prescribed in the law of the 



BOOK OF GEMS. 289 

great King. We must not go to man, but to the King, 
to know who shall be received. It is not a question 
whether man will receive us, but whether the Lord 
will receive us. 



• ► < m 



MAINTAIN A PURE FAITH AND WORSHIP. 




HO, in the midst of all this demoralization, will 
stand for God, for the anointed and for the 
^ eternal Spirit ; for the only supreme and abso- 
lute, the final authority, the revelation from God to 
man, as set forth in the Bible? We must maintain 
this or we shall be ruined forever. We must resist all 
broad-guagism, liberalism, this terrible demoraliza- 
tion, and maintain the purity of the religion of Christ 
itself. We have taken our stand on the highest ground 
and must maintain the highest purity and order, the 
greatest perfection and refinement of which we are 
capable. We must maintain pure morality, pure faith 
and worship, utter abstinence from follies and all 
doubtful practices, all things heM in suspicion among 
good people. It is a time for general humiliation and 
supplication — one mighty and united appeal of all the 
true and holy to heaven to save us from the general 
avalanche of iniquity that threatens the ruin of the 
country, and specially of religion. Jews may look on 
with a sneer, infidels may mock and scoff, and hell 



290 BOOK OF GEMS. 

may appear to exult ; but the Lord God the Omnipo- 
tent reigns, and the wicked will be overthrown. It 
matters not how popular they may be, how great their 
talent, how much money they may have, nor how great 
their number, the strong arm of the Almighty can 
reach them and bring them down. Their doom is 
certain. 



THINGS NOT FORBIDDEN. 




HERE has God forbidden infant baptism ? 
Where has he forbidden sprinkling for bap- 
tism? Where has he forbidden the offering 
of incense, the counting of beads, in worship ? What 
harm is there in all this ? This is sophistry, decep- 
tion, delusion, and that, too, of a very low and un- 
worthy order at that. Where is the divine authority 
for doing this or that ? If there is no divine authority 
for doing this or that, in religion, or worship, that very 
circumstance is divine authority against it. "Who 
hath required this at your hand V is the inquiry of 
the word of God, to all such as introduce things into 
religion or worship, not authorized in Scripture. We 
may add nothing to the religion of Christ, the faith 
or practice, the precept or example, the worship, the 
rewards or punishments. 

Those who consider themselves free to do anything 



BOOK OF GEMS. 291 

not forbidden in Scripture, are out at sea, pretty 
much cut loose from the Bible. They have in their 
horizon a broad range. They are not in search of 
divine authority, not engaged in that for which there 
is divine authority, but things for which there is no 
divine authority — things not forbidden. They are 
not studying how to do the commandments, but 
whether men can not be saved without doing the com- 
mandments; how to obey the gospel, but how men 
can be saved without obeying the gospel; not how 
to build up the church of God, set it in order and 
keep it in order; how to worship according to the 
Scriptures ; but how to make the church attractive, 
entertaining and popular. Their theme is not the 
gospel, nor is their mission turning the world from 
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God ; 
but to so model and fashion the church as to please 
the world as it is, in its unconverted state, without the 
work of turning it to God. Let them have their way, 
and the church, in a short time, will be so let down 
that men will need no conversion to come into it. 
There will be no cross nor self denial in it. Be care- 
ful and not fall "into the trap," as Luther did. If 
there is no divine authority for a thing, that is enough. 
We need no Scripture forbidding it. 

We can unite on the things required in Scripture — 
the things commanded — but we never can unite on the 
things not forbidden. There are too many of this 
latter class ; they are too various, contradictory and 
inconsistent. Let us stick to the things that are 
written. These are divinely authorized. The things 
not written are not divinely authorized. Let us stand 
to the prescribed terms of pardon, the prescribed life 



292 BOOK OF GEMS. 

of the saints, and the prescribed worship. Those who 
depart from this are going back. 



•► <• 



BRANCHES OF THE CHURCH. 




'HEN we say the body, we do not mean any sort 
of body, or any kind of body, bnt the body of 
Christ ; the one body into which all were im- 
mersed in the time of the apostles. This is the same 
as in " the Chnrch of God," " the kingdom of God." 
The body of Christ has no branches except the individ- 
ual members. There are no branch bodies. The king- 
dom of God has no branches. Every citizen is in the 
kingdom, and those not in the kingdom are not citizens 
at all. 

The Church of God, the body of Christ, or the king- 
dom, is a divine institution. The Lord built his church 
on the rock, and no man who understands the matter, 
" loves the Lord Jesus Christ with all his soul " while 
he says, " I care not to what church a man identifies 
himself." The man who identifies himself with the 
Church of God, or the body of Christ, identifies him- 
self with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit — with the 
entire heavenly family. This is what we care for. 
But identifying a man with those bodies styled 
branches is another matter. We can not love the Lord 
Jesus Christ with all the soul and care not whether 



BOOK OP GEMS. 293 

we are identified with his body, or, which is the same, 
with him or some other body or person. 

But let ns inquire about these branches. Are they 
branches of the Church of God ? . The Church of God 
has never branched any that we know of. The body 
of Christ has no branches except the individual mem- 
bers and they all belong to the body, and not to a 
branch of the body. A man is simply in the body, or 
not in it. The kingdom of God has no branches. A 
man is simply a citizen, or he is not. If our corres- 
pondent desires to know whether he is in a branch of 
the Church of God let him trace the branch with which 
he is identified back to where it branched off, and see 
what it branched off from ; whether it branched off 
from another branch, or from the main body. If it 
branched off from another branch, then he might trace 
that other branch and see what it branched off from. 
Before he gets back to the body he may find some 
branches that are no credit to any body. 

The departures from the body and from the law of 
God are not honored as branches of the body. They 
are styled in Scripture a " falling away," the apostasy. 
They are departures from God, from Christ and from 
the Holy Spirit. The great apostasy is styled the Man 
of Sin, the Son of Perdition. That is the first branch. 
We do not want to be identified! with it, or any branch 
of it, or any branch of a branch of it. We have gone 
back to the body of Christ from which it departed, and 
become identified with that body itself, and will recog- 
nize no departure from it, no matter how many pretty 
names may be given to it, nor how many good people 
belong to it, but will still hold it to be an apostasy, or 
a departure from God. There can be no union in 



294 BOOK OF GEMS. 

brandies only branch union ; there can Ibe union in 
the one body, in the one faith, under the one Lord, and 
nowhere else, such as the Lord will approve. 



»» *i 



WHOM THE LORD RECEIVES. 



'HERE is no half-way fellowship to which we can 
receive persons, and allow them all the privileges 
we enjoy, and they not in full fellowship. It is 
not a question about our receiving a person, but the 
Lord receiving the person. The very act in which the 
penitent sinner conies and is received by the Lord is 
baptism. When he comes in full assurance of faith 
and penitence, and is immersed into Christ, the Lord 
receives him. All we do in the matter is to execute 
the law of Christ. The entire matter of inquiry is 
about how the Lord receives persons. This is all we 
inquire about. 

When we turn aside from the way the Lord receives 
persons, and receive them in some other way, it is no 
difference what that other way is. It may be styled 
more liberal than the way in which the Lord receives 
persons, but the Lord does not propose to present 
something more liberal than men ; but he is a Law- 
giver, and lays down the law on which he will receive 
men, and if men desire him to receive them, they must 
come in the way laid down in his law. But if we 



BOOK OF GEMS. 295 

only desire to be received by men, we can consult 
them 'and learn the terms on which they will receive 
ns ; but when we act thus we must not deceive our- 
selves, and think we are becoming servants of the 
Lord in so doing. We are simply becoming servants 
of men. 



•»» ■«• 



NOT OF ONE CLASS. 



f|W what sense except an extremely general one are 
the Romish, Episcopalian, Methodist and Presby- 
terian clergy of one class ? Not that there is much 
fraternity, fellowship or agreement among them ; nor 
even that there is any general sympathy, harmony or 
co-operation ; nor that they are engaged in one worlc. 
They belong to separate kingdoms. In their official 
acts they never act together. If they act together at 
all, it is not officially, nor in any sense, only on certain 
occasions, to be friendly, courteous and polite toward 
each other, but with the distinct understanding that it 
is not official. Their actions are as distinct as those 
of a United States Congressman and a member of the 
British Parliament. They are both officers of State, 
and so far on common ground, and, as such, treat each 
other with respect and courtesy ; but, in their official 
acts, they have no fellowship, and are not under the 
same government. In the same way the clergy of the 



296 BOOK OF GEMS. 

different parties we have mentioned, in their official 
acts never act together, and have no fraternity. They 
are not acting nnder the same government, nor are they 
officers in the same kingdom. The official acts of one 
of them are not regarded by another at all. 

In what sense, then, are they classed together, or 
what is it that is common among them ? Simply that 
they are ministers of religion, or men whose lives are 
devoted to religions instruction, and matters of church. 
But not of the same order, nor of the same church ; 
not of the same religion ; not of the same faith, nor of 
the same practice. They do not speak the " same 
thing," nor are they of the " same mind and the same 
judgment/' or "perfectly joined together." They are 
not of the " one fold and one shepherd." They are 
not " one as we " (the Father and the Son) " are one ;" 
nor were they " all baptized into one body," nor are 
they in " one body," with " one Spirit " and " one hope," 
under " one Lord," and with " one faith," and " one 
baptism," and " one God and Father of all, who is 
above all, and in you all." 

We have not a railing accusation to bring against 
these men as a class, nor do we hate or denounce them ; 
nor have we an unkind feeling toward them. We can 
recognize every good trait they have ; all the moral 
influence, the learning and intelligence, as well as their 
devotion to their several causes. We can make all 
reasonable allowance for early training, association 
and education, and admit all their good intentions. 
We can treat them with all the common courtesies and 
civilities of an enlightened and a refined age, as gen- 
tlemen, and moral and orderly men. All this and 
much more we can do. What we can not do is not 



BOOK OF GEMS. 297 

from any unkind feeling toward them, nor because 
they have treated us with a special indignity, or given 
us any personal offence, or anything of the kind. But 
it is because we can not, without setting aside princi- 
ple that we are as certain is correct as we are that the 
Bible contains a revelation from God, recognize their 
airs, pretensions and claims. "We can not without 
ignoring, overriding and utterly disregarding matters 
of the most vital, fundamental and central importance. 
It is not the class of men that we denounce, or that we 
speak against, but the positions tJiey assume, the work 
they are doing and the obstruction they are in the way 
of the work of Christ. 



HOW THE WORLD REGARDS DANCERS. 



'HE people of the world look upon a member of 
the church, that enters the dance, as let down, 
degraded, and his profession trailed in the dust. 
" Look there," he exclaims, " that lady is a member of 
the church. I saw her immersed, and have seen her 
commune ; she is no better than I am, and I know I 
am no Christian." If the dancing professors could 
hear the numerous remarks thus made, in regard to 
their letting themselves down, degrading their profes- 
sion and putting themselves on a level with the world, 
or below that level, their faces would burn, if they 



298 BOOK OF GEMS. 

were not too much hardened to exercise a lively con- 
science. 

We are only deceiving ourselves, and that too, most 
woefully, if we think that the dancers, theater-goers, 
horse-racers, gamblers and drunkards, claiming to be 
members of a church, are on their way to heaven. 
Their baptism is all nothing. Their communion is 
mockery, an insult to the Majesty of heaven and 
earth. Their sitting in choirs and taking into their 
polluted lips the pure words of praises, supplications 
and thanksgiving, in the midst of the pure worship of 
saints, is a desecration of the appointments of God. 

When we think of saving men, we must not think 
merely of getting them into immersion, or into the 
church, but, in the true sense, we must turn them to 
God — turn them from their sins. The love of sin 
must be destroyed in them, and the love of God estab- 
lished. They must, in the full import of the term, be 
made " new creatures," conformed to the image of 
Christ. We must see in them not simply a desire to 
see how near they can be like the world, and not be 
excluded from the church ; how deep they can dip 
into the follies of the world, and not be lost ; how 
near the verge of perdition they can run and not fall 
in. But they must " love not the world, nor the things 
of the world," make it a matter of prayer, and study 
how to live and walk with God ; how to have the con- 
tinual care and gracious providence of God over them. 
No man is a profitable member of the church, that 
simply escapes being turned out, any more than he is 
a good citizen who barely escapes fines, imprisonment 
and the gallows, or who does everything and anything 
that the law does not expressly forbid. A man may 



BOOK OF GEMS. 299 

be a bad and worthless fellow and not be fined nor 
imprisoned. So a member of the church may be bad, 
and not only worthless but injurious to the church, 
and not be turned out. There may not be enough 
spiritual life, moral standing and respect for the law 
of God, in the church, to enforce the law of Christ. 

May we awake to the state of things, cry aloud and 
spare not, and never cease our supplications to heaven 
till we see an improvement. We are only deceived in 
dancers to allow them to remain in the church, and 
thus permit them to enjoy the idea that they are 
Christians. 



•► «• 



SAVED WITHOUT BAPTISM. 



** ^ESUS don't say, " He that is not baptized shall be 
damned." Suppose he does not. Baptism is a 
*3F commandment. To do a commandment is an act 
of obedience. To refuse to do a commandment is to 
refuse to do an act of obedience. The Lord will take 
vengeance on them who know not God, and obey not 
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But our friend 
says, " I believe if a man willfully and stubbornly re- 
fuses to receive the ordinance of baptism, that man 
will be lost." What, then, of all those people who 
have the Bible in their houses, printed plainly in their 
mother tongue, and know that baptism is commanded, 



300 BOOK OF GEMS. 

or may know it, as certainly as they know their 
names, and will not be baptized ? And what of the 
preachers who encourage them in it ? The Lord's will 
is that they should obey — be baptized. They refuse 
to do this. They Tcnow his will and do it not. Will 
they be saved ? 

But there are cases in which baptism is impossible. 
There are cases where the gospel can not be adminis- 
tered. Where the gospel can not be administered, we 
can not have the promise of the gospel. But will they 
not be saved by the atonement f The atonement is 
the reconciliation, and reconciliation is by the Media- 
tor, or by the belief and obedience of the gospel. But 
what of those who can not hear the gospel? They 
are not gospel subjects. The gospel can not be 
administered to them. What will you do with them ? 
Nothing. Where the gospel can be made known 
preach it to the people. Where they can believe and 
obey it, urge them to do it, that they may be saved. 
Gospel salvation is the only salvation we have any- 
thing to do with. It is freely and graciously offered 
to men who believe and obey the gospel. The work 
of the preacher is to preach the gospel to all and 
exhort all to obey it, showing that " God commands 
all men everywhere to repent," and that this repent- 
ance is in view of the judgment. 

But what of infants ? Gospel salvation, or the sal- 
vation of the commission, is salvation from sin, or 
remission of sins. Infants have never sinned, and 
need no remission of sins. They need nothing only 
precisely what a saint needs — to be raised from the 
dead, changed, immortalized and glorified. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 301 




RECOGNITION OF , BY SECTS. 



THAT do we want recognition of any sects for? 
What do we want to come on a level with them 
for? Not one of them has a creed that is in- 
dorsed "by any party but his own. There is not a 
party in Christendom that receives or believes the 
Methodist creed except the Methodist party. The same 
is true of every other party. Their creeds are not even 
popular, only as they agree in the human-creed idea 
that they must have a human creed. What a coming 
down, for a man that has a creed that they all believe 
— the Bible — to come down on a level with a man, 
standing on a little side platform, discarded by every 
religious party, in the world, except his own. We do 
not want his recognition and do not intend to recog- 
nize him till he abandons his side platform. The 
Evangelical Alliance have been trying, twenty-five 
years or more, to make a platform and are as far from 
making one that these parties can stand on as they 
were at the beginning. What use have we for tamper- 
ing in this way ? We have a creed that every party 
in Christendom admits to be right. The Bible is that 
creed. We have a doctrine that they all admit to be 
right — " all Scripture given by inspiration of God," as 
Paul says, "is profitable for doctrine" There is no 
doubt about it. We have " the faith once for all de- 
livered to the saints " — the belief " that Jesus is the 



302 book: of gems. 

Christ, the Son of the Living God," and not a party 
among all the contending parties doubt or denies this 
faith. The doubts are not about what we hold, bnt 
about what these others hold. We hold and practice 
no donbtful baptism. The bnrial of a penitent believer 
in baptism is valid baptism with all the parties of any 
note. 

We can take down the books from their own libra- 
ries and show from their standard works that all we 
hold, teach and practice, is found in their main works, 
indorsed and sanctioned in numerous wavs. We are 
not standing upon any doubtful ground. We know 
we are right, and what remains for us to do is to make 
every possible effort to attain to a more perfect prac- 
tice of what we know to be right, and not be trying to 
get recognition from any of these modern parties. 
They will never indorse us till we abandon our ground, 
and this, many among us will never do. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 303 



WEALTH OF ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. 



I^IKST. This matter of gaining wealth does not 
f depend altogether nor chiefly on loving money. 
I If it depended altogether or chiefly on loving 
money, many more would gain wealth than do ? for no 
doubt more love money as ardently as those that 
obtain it. Men who love money devote themselves to 
schemes of money-making, or what they consider 
such, and, in some instances, break at it, and come 
out bankrupt. A. Campbell never did devote himself 
to making money: But he was right in two respects : 
1. He was a good manager in temporal things. 2. He 
was an economist. He knew the use of money and 
never wasted it. He built no fine houses, rode in no 
fine carriages and drove no fine horses. He was a 
plain man. He had everything necessary for comfort 
and nothing for show. We think he lived in the same 
house in which he was married, adding considerable, 
but plain buildings to it, affording accommodations 
for his numerous guests, but nothing costly or fine, in 
any part of it. In this he was a noble example. On 
the one hand not an indication of parsimoniousness, 
and on the other, not an item of extravagance. The 
same was true of the entire outfit, furniture, table and 
all. There was an abundance for all, and nothing 
wasteful or extravagant. 

Second. This thing of gaining wealth is not fully 



304 BOOK OF GEMS. 

to be explained. It is not to be ascribed entirely to 
the art of man, to his great business capacity, his 
industry or energy, for we find plenty of men that 
have these qualities, but accumulate but little. 
Wealth gathers round some men as naturally as it 
departs from others, when no man can see the reason. 
Some call it fortune, others luck, and, in other cases 
we say, they know how to make it. True, there must 
be the industry, the energy, the management and 
economy ; there must be the good judgment, sagacity, 
etc. These are main articles in running the world, 
but wealth bears no just proportion to these. We 
speak not of a fortuity, which brings an estate at 
once, but of the growing up of an estate. There is 
something lying back of all industry, economy, man- 
agement, foreseeing sagacity, etc., call it fate, luck, 
fortune or providence, or what we may, that no phil- 
osophy or reason can fully explain. Men accumulate 
a vast estate without struggling for it, aiming at it, or 
seeming to think about it. Alex. Campbell was of 
this class. We can see that he managed well, that he 
wasted nothing, that he saw that business was in 
shape, etc., but this does not account for the amount 
that accumulated around him. Much of it came in a 
way that he knew not, and certainly never planned. 

Tfiird. Alex. Campbell did not raise himself up. 
God raised him, not for himself, nor for us to glory in 
him, but for his own glorious purpose, and he did not 
leave him without the means to accomplish that great 
purpose. He always provides a way for a man to do 
the work for which he has raised him up. Alex. 
Campbell could not have gone, as he did, at his own 
charges, traveling thousands of miles, and for many 



BOOK OF GEMS. 305 

long months at a time^ and through immense districts 
of country, where he had no kind brethren to enter- 
tain him and support him, if the means had not been 
provided. Nor could he have started, maintained and 
sent forth a publication, coining in collision with 
all the religious publications in the world without 
the means to sustain him. God provided him the 
means, so that he never lacked. JSTo man ever had the 
power to stop his mouth by cutting off his support. 
He stood independent, except upon God, who was with 
and prospered him. How could he have founded a 
seminary first and then a magnificent college and prose- 
cuted his great work without means ? How could he 
have supplied his extension table, always extended in 
his long dining hall, along which the vast numbers 
that visited him at all seasons, but specially on com- 
mencement occasions, sat, were fed and satisfied, and 
went away admiring their noble host, of whose munifi- 
cence they had partaken, had not the Lord prospered 
him ? God enabled him to give example's in gen- 
erosity, hospitality, and to push on his great work. 
It was of the highest importance that he should be 
free from all pecuniary pressure and embarrassment, 
and the Lord kept him in that condition all the time 
— made " all grace abound " to him. Growing rich and 
money making from the love of money, or moneys 
sake, were ideas that occupied no place in his great 
mind or heart. He made and used money, as God 
intended it, as a means for doing the work of God, 
and means that the work could not have been done 
without. 

Fourth. But how did so large an estate accumulate 
if he did not love money, or love " filthy lucre ? " We 



306 BOOK OF GEMS. 

answer that a large amount of his estate came to him 
as he explained to us, when we visited him, in the only 
conversation we ever had with him about his temporal 
affairs, and that a very brief one. We can not remem- 
ber the particulars, but we do remember distinctly all 
that is of any interest here. Several large items — items 
that would have changed the amount largely — came to 
him without the most distant idea of ever making 
money. This occurred in his listening to the importu- 
nities of friends to loan them money, and securing it 
by mortgaging lands then cheap, and these lands thus 
finally falling into his hands, by the failure of his 
friends, to whom he had loaned the money, to pay. 
These lands remained in his hands many years, and 
he was not necessitated to sell them. As the country 
improved and railroads were constructed, these lands 
proved to be in important places, where in many years 
they grew up in into heavy amounts in value. In this 
there was no far seeing nor reaching for " filthy lucre," 
nor any thought of obtaining it. He simply listened 
to the requests of his friends to help Miem, and in many 
long years it turned out to yield him a heavy amount. 

Fifth. His talents put forth in Bethany, the works 
he issued from there and the establishment of the 
college, made employment for many persons, called a 
number of these as educators and students, established 
the church there, and resulted in building up quite a 
village. This enhanced the value of the fine tract of 
land owned by him there, and certainly without his 
foreseeing and working to that end, made a consider- 
able item in the estate he left behind him. 

Sixth. The sale of his various works toward the 
latter part of his life brought a considerable income. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 307 

This could not have been foreseen and planned to make 
money. In the early part of his life, and the time he 
put forth his most vigorous efforts, he had no assur- 
ance that such works as he issued would ever be a 
source of profit. Men who start out to make money 
do not start out against the main current of mankind. 
We have some now whose business is making money, 
but they do not start out nor travel the road trod by 
Alex. Campbell. They do not make a square issue 
with the religious world, nor war upon the men in 
power. They do not generally think that is the way 
to the gold mines. Had he been starting with money 
in his eye, his keen perception would have seen some- 
thing of more promise than a square fight with the 
popular clergy of the world ; the creeds, councils, con- 
ferences, assemblies, etc. It, however, turned out that 
his productions found a sale that resulted in an income. 
There was no close management or calculating on his 
part, nor careful looking after the matter. 

But the pen of Alex. Campbell was a terror to men 
who did not love " the right way of the Lord," and his 
words were burning ; but the idea that he was morose 
and unamiable is entirely an erroneous one. His very 
nature was amiable and lovely ; and, in his devotions, 
he was as humble as a child. We never heard any 
man who could pray like he could. His terms, in 
addressing our heavenly Father, were characterized 
with a sense of the absolute dependence, profound awe 
and reverence of us, the creatures of mercy, and the 
simplicity of a child. All was easy and utterly with- 
out affectation. 

The reader may think we have occupied too much 
space with this matter. We think not. There are 
great lessons in these matters. 



308 BOOK OF GEMS. 



FAITH, REPENTANCE, AND BAPTISM, DO NOT 

PARDON. 



JAITH changes, purifies or christianizes the heart, 
or converts the subject in heart. Repentance 
changes, purifies or christianizes the man in char- 
acter, or converts him in character. But this is all 
simply a change in the man, hut no change in his 
relation or state. It is simply preparing the man to 
enter into a justified state, or a state of pardon. 
There is no forgiveness of sin in all this. There is no 
salvation of the soul from sin here. The salvation of 
the soul from sin, pardon or forgiveness of sins, is as 
distinct from all the preparation of heart and life, or 
all the change in the subject, as heaven or earth, as 
the work of God and the work of man. Man believes, 
repents, feels and confesses, but God pardons. No 
believing, repenting, feeling or confessing, saves the 
soul or pardons. It is God that pardons. JSTor does 
baptism save the soul. It, too, is but the act of the 
creature ; but it is the initiatory rite, consummating 
or transition act, where pardon is promised in the 
divine process. The candidate is baptized " into the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit." All the prophets bear witness of him, that 
through his name, whoever believeth in him, shall 
receive remission of sin. His is the only name given 
under heaven and among men whereby man can be 



BOOK OF GEMS. 309 

saved. When we come into his name, there is salva- 
tion, or forgiveness of sins. As many as have been 
" baptized into Christ, have been baptized into his 
death." In his death, his blood flowed to wash away 
sin. When man comes into his death, he comes to 
his blood that cleanses from all sin. When he enters 
the body of Christ, he comes to the life, to all spirit- 
ual blessings in Christ, to the salvation of our Grod. 



■ ► M m 



PROTRACTED MEETINGS, EXCITEMENTS. ETC. 



T has been a question of serious doubt with some 
of the most excellent on earth, whether the pro- 
tracted meeting is compatible with the genius of 
the Christian Institution, and whether more evil does 
not attend it than good. But from the day we 
engaged in the service of our Redeemer, to this hour, 
we have had no doubt of the propriety of protracted 
efforts for the conversion of men. It is true, these 
efforts may be made in such a manner; such policies 
and appliances may be employed and a resort may be 
made to such means of excitement, as would be 
wholly unjustifiable. But this may be done on any 
other occasion, as well as at the protracted meeting, 
and the fault is not in the protracted effort, but in the 
means employed. 
All efforts made to excite men without enlightening 



310 BOOK OF GEMS. 

them; to rouse the feelings without informing the 
judgment; to produce action without the knowledge 
how to act, are wholly unscriptural, and equally at 
war with the best interests of mankind. To hold a 
protracted meeting, while talented orators shall pic- 
ture to men, in the most startling manner, the sinful- 
ness of sin, the lost condition of man, the awfulness 
of death, the ineffable bliss of heaven, and the un- 
utterable horrors of hell, without giving any adequate 
instructions how to obtain deliverance from sin, or the 
dangers of punishment, and an ultimate admission 
into the felicities of the eternal state of the blessed, 
we all admit to be as irrational as unscriptural. In- 
deed, we can not conceive anything more incompatible 
with all enlightenment and all revelation, than to 
awaken the human soul to a sense of its danger, with- 
out affording a knowledge of the means of escape. 
That such, however, is the case in thousands of the 
revival movements of our times, no intelligent person 
can deny. Who has not seen the penitent, when the 
invitation has been extended, come, inquiring, " What 
must I do to be saved?" and not a man on the ground 
who could answer the question. Who has not heard the 
preacher invite, persuade and entreat the sinner to 
come to the Lord, assuring him that he who seeks 
shall find — he who comes shall in no wise be cast out 
— that if any man knocks at the door, the Lord will 
open to him, and, when persons, induced through such 
invitation, come seeking the way, not a man present 
could point it out ? We have all witnessed occasions 
of this kind. Nay, more, we have known such seekers 
to come, time after time, seeking, honestly and de- 
voutly seeking, but still not finding ! Yes, this is not 



BOOK OF GEMS. 311 

the worst. We have heard the preacher advise them 
to join the church, that probably the Lord would bless 
them, that persons had been known to "get religion" 
after joining the church, etc., etc., and we have known 
them to take this advice, join the church, and remain 
for years, seeking all the time, and still failing to find ! 
Every community can testify the same. 

Now it is not strange that men should become scep- 
tics, under the influence of such a system as this. It 
is a failure. It makes false promises, and men try 
them and find them to be false. Such a system prom- 
ises, that they who seek shall find, and hundreds, even 
thousands, have sought — have done, and have done 
honestly, all the preachers pointed out for them to do, 
and have failed to find. They know positively that 
the system is a failure, for they have tried it, and 
found it to be such. It is precisely what we might 
expect, that persons trying such a system, seeking 
and striving honestly for years and not finding, should 
be brought to doubt that there is any truth or reality 
in the whole concern ; and we have no doubt, that 
such unenlightened excitement will be chargeable with 
a large amount of the unbelief, so rapidly increasing 
in our times. 

But if the preachers on all such occasions, were en- 
lightened, so that when any sinner is awakened, 
becomes penitent, and desirous to know what he 
should do to be saved, and he could and would tell 
him forthwith what God required him to do, in the 
unequivocal language of the New Testament, who can 
fail to see that the results would be entirely different ? 
This, we affirm, may and should be the case in every 
instance, and we hesitate not to say, in the most 



312 BOOK OF GEMS. 

unequivocal language, that such is the case under the 
preaching of enlightened men. We go even further, 
and declare with all possible emphasis, that God 
never authorized any man to preach who could not, on 
any occasion, point out to the believing, inquiring 
penitent, what he should do to be saved, or what 
he should do to enter into the kingdom of God. 
We have it recorded from the Lord's own lips, 
and from the lips of his inspired apostles, what 
they directed inquirers or seekers to do, to obtain par- 
don and admission into Christ's kingdom, and any 
preacher who can not or can, but has not the honor to 
do it, give their holy and infallible directions to the 
dying sinner, seeking his way to God, was never called, 
sent nor authorized by God to preach the gospel, and 
should not be regarded as such. 

It is also of the highest importance that we employ 
gospel means for the awakening sinners and arousing 
them from their slumbers. Some preachers have con- 
tracted the habit of making an immense variety of 
appeals to affecting occurences — describing sympa- 
thetic scenes, simply for the purpose of producing feel- 
ing in the audience. Great injury may be done in this 
way, by arousing human sympathy, moving the soul 
and causing men to act, who do not love the Lord and 
have not had the first serious thought of consecrating 
their lives to his holy service. We say not this, because 
we fear too much excitement, too much feeling, or too 
much interest, but because the excitement is not of the 
right kind. The work is of no value unless it be the 
Lord's work. — It is not his work unless done by his 
acknowledged and approved instrumentalities. The 
gospel is his power for salvation. The excitement 



BOOK OF GEMS. 313 

produced in a community by preaching Christ — the 
work produced in the heart by preaching the gospel, 
is the Lord's work. It is a divine cause, producing a 
divine effect. But if the cause be merely human, the 
effect can be no more than human. 

We want the protracted meeting then, to deliver an 
unbroken series of gospel discourses to the people — 
that we may be enabled to call off their attention from 
the ordinary cares of life, and more especially from 
their sins, and place our glorious Lord and Redeemer 
before their minds — induce them to consider him, in 
all his gracious condescension, his life filled up with 
acts of kindness, goodness and humanity, his prayers, 
agonies and tears, his wonderful death, his descent to 
the grave, his victorious conquest over death and his 
triumphant and glorious ascension into heaven and 
coronation, as the King of kings and Lord of lords — 
that he is now exalted to the heavens — to the throne of 
the universe, to grant repentance and remission of sins, 
and that there is no other name given under heaven, 
nor among men whereby ye can be saved. 

When a full exhibition of Christ — of the gospel, is 
made to men, in a series of discourses, and their hearts 
are moved, their souls filled with love and gratitude to 
him whom they discover to be their only Benefactor, 
their Lord, their Savior and only Redeemer, then we 
meet them with his own infallible directions, as they 
fell from his own lips and the lips of his holy apostles, 
and we never find it fail to give peace to the soul, and 
if carried out to give the utmost assurance in after 
life and death of acceptance with God and an eternal 
reward. Go on, then, brethren, with the protracted 
meetings, and preach the word of the everlasting God 



314 BOOK OF GEMS. 

to sinners as long as a man can Ibe found who will hear 
it, and then be careful to take care of the young con- 
verts and keep them in the work of the Lord . 



► ■< » 



SCENE IN A HOTEL. 



VCTOBER 7th, we started for Lebanon, where we 
had an appointment at night. The rains not hav- 
ing extended east, the road was fine and we glided 
along beautifully and reached Germantown about 
twelve o'clock. Not being acquainted with any per- 
son in the place, we drove up to the only public house 
we saw, and called for dinner and horse fed. On enter- 
ing the bar room, the landlord skipped around the 
counter, and running his keen eye over the immense 
assortment of intoxicating liquors which lined one end 
of the room, politely inquired what we would drink. 
We answered, " a cup of cold water sir, if you please, 
when dinner is ready," His countenance fell, but he 
recovered himself and invited us to take a seat. Pres- 
ently in came a dirty, rough looking fellow, with his 
greasy pants patched from top to bottom, and placed 
himself at the counter, with his feet about as far apart 
upon the floor as his legs were long, and rolled up his 
red eyes as he looked out from his bloated face, while 
the landlord called out, " What will you have sir ? " 
He answered, " Hand down old Rough and Ready," 



BOOK OF GEMS. 315 

when a huge bottle of the fiery stuff was instantly set 
down. He poured a common sized glass tumbler two- 
thirds full, swallowed it, smacked his lips and took 
his seat. During this time he uttered some dozen or 
two of the most horrid oaths he could think of. 
One after another came in till some twenty had entered 
the room in a similar style, among whom there was 
not one, not excepting the landlord, who was not a 
profane swearer. Now the dinner bell rang, and in a 
perfect rush we gathered round the table well spread 
with the bounties of life. The stream of oaths con- 
tinued from almost every mouth. Presently my right 
hand man commenced entertaining the company by 
giving an account of his travels among the Hoosiers, 
how ignorant they were, and that he had some notion 
of turning out preacher among them, as he was certain 
he could have made lots of money in that way ! Poor 
silly creature thought we ; you must get sense enough 
to eat your dinner in a civil manner, when you are in 
the company of a stranger, before you can even be an 
impostor. 

Should we call at such a house to stay over night, 
we should surely leave, after finding what kind of com- 
pany we had fallen into. To be annoyed by the awful 
stench of tobacco smoke, spit and snuff, with the 
wretched scent of a company of men who are never 
sober, is what we will not endure if there is any other 
chance. 



316 BOOK OF GEMS. 



" FAITH COMES BY HEARING." 



OW remarkable the difference between the 
apostles method of producing faith, and that 
pursued by some modern preachers. The latter 
class frequently theorize on faith, and the method 
through which it comes, but the former, understanding 
his mission more perfectly, first, set forth the things to 
be believed, and secondly, the witnesses by which God 
intended to prove them to the world. An august 
phalanx they are too ! consisting of all the prophets 
and apostles. " They all bear witness of him." 
Suppose we could see them standing in a long rank, 
and among the most distinguished we could see Enoch, 
Elijah and the venerable Abraham. We could place 
our eyes upon the great commander of the hosts of the 
Israel of God, and the mighty law-giver, who feared and 
trembled, in the midst of thunderings and smoke at 
Mount Sinai, viz. Moses. — We look again and behold 
Samuel, Isaiah, Daniel and Ezekiel. Passing the lesser 
prophets, we behold the commanding face and hear 
the voice of John the Baptist. Still gazing we behold 
Peter, James and Paul and last of all the eye rests 
upon the venerable John. We then pause, and reflect 
upon the tears, the poverty, nakedness, hunger, thirst, 
stripes, imprisonments and deaths through which these 
men passed and inquire what was all this suffering 
for ? The fact re-echoes back upon us in the awful and 



BOOK OF GEMS. 317 

sublime sentence : " For the word of God and the 
testimony of Jesns Christ." Did they thus suffer on 
this account ? They did. Could they have been any- 
thing else but faithful men ? Surely not. They must 
have been the most sincere and solemn men the world 
ever produced : Well could they have been mistaken. 
Impossible. The things concerning which they bore 
witness they saw and heakd. " We were with him in 
Jerusalem, in the land of the Jews, and saw him after 
he rose from the dead." We say then emphatically 
that they could not have been insincere nor mistaken, 
and what they said must have been infallibly true. 



•► ■ « ♦ 



WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 




WAKENED sinners feel that they must do some- 
thing, but they see, or think they see, some " lion 
in the street " — some difficulty in the path which 
they have marked out to Christ, which prevents them 
from finding the Savior in the pardon of their sins. 
The chief reason, perhaps, why every inquirer does 
not rejoice in a felt sense of God's pardoning love, is, 
that they seek in their own way. They endeavor to 
arise and " go to Jesus," in their own strength. No 
sinner ever did find Christ, seeking thus. He must 
first arrive at the point where he can feel his own help- 
lessness, before Christ will help him. When he does 



318 BOOK OF GEMS. 

realize this helplessness, then God will meet him and 
give him the new heart. 

Would yon know, then, what yon must do to be 
saved ? The essence of the whole matter, we think, is 
this : 

1. You must resolve that you will put off the inter- 
est of your soul no longer, but that you will go earn- 
estly about the matter, and seek and persist in seeking 
until your sins are pardoned. 2. You must see your 
own helplessness and feel it. 3. Having arrived at 
this point, humbly submit to Christ. With the prodi- 
gal, let the feelings of the heart be, "I will arise and 
go to my Father "—He can help me— I can not help 
myself— if he save, well— if not, " I can but perish if 
I go." 

And, did ever a sinner perish with such feelings ? No 
thanks to Christ, not one ! Try it, dear sinner, try it. 

We clip the above from the Presbyterian Advocate, 
as a specimen of " the blind leading the blind." Why 
is it that when men attempt to answer Scripture ques- 
tions, they can not give Scripture answers ? When the 
Philippian Jailer propounded substantially the above 
question, the holy apostle answered him, " Believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and 
thy house. And they spoke unto him the word of the 
Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took 
them the same hour of the night and washed their 
stripes ; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway." 
Acts xvi. 30-32. When this pagan officer asked what he 
should do, he was not blindly told that he could do 
nothing — that the first lesson to learn in salvation was 
that he could not do anything, but he was told what 
to do, and forthwith did it and was saved. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 319 

When Saul asked the important question, " Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ? " he was by no means 
told that he could not do anything. 'But he was told 
to " Arise, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be 
told thee, all things that are appointed for tliee to do" 
Acts xxii. 9-10 ; see verse 16. Would God appoint 
things for men to do, and say, "Why tarries t thou? 
Arise, and be baptized and wash away thy sins, call- 
ing on the name of the Lord," if he knew they could 
not do anything ? 

When three thousand cried out, " Men and brethren, 
what shall we do ? " there was no blind guide to say, 
" You can do nothing," but there were present apostles, 
under the influence of the infallible Spirit of all wis 
dom, who said, " Repent and be baptized, every one of 
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of 
sins." Acts ii. 38. 



320 BOOK OE GEMS. 



EVANGELISTS-PASTORS. 



'HE evangelist is not an officer in a church, or for a 
church, but his work is at large, to build up the 
churches, strengthen them and turn sinners to 
the Lord. He should introduce the gospel into new 
places, establish churches, and in due time set them 
in order. He is not an ecclesiastic, an official digni- 
tary, who has much to say about his office and aidhor- 
Uy, but a gospel man, a man of influence, and can 
command respect and do a good work. 

A shepherd, or, which is the same, pastor, is not an 
officer at all, but a figurative term applied to him who 
takes care of the flock. The flock means the church, 
and the shepherd is the correlative of flock, and is 
applied to an overseer, or one who oversees or looks 
over the flock as a shepherd. "Pastoral work" is, 
then, the work of a shepherd, or overseer, who can not 
be a novice or a young convert. 

The work of the evangelist is now needed as much 
as ever, and the evangelist is by no means done away. 
So the shepherds to take care of the flock are now 
needed as much as ever, and the teachers are in demand 
as much as ever. These are not now raised up and 
qualified by miracle, but by ordinary means ; nor is 
the work gone that they are severally to do. The 
evangelizing is*now needed as much as ever; so is 
taking care of the churches and teaching the disciples 



BOOK OF GEMS. 321 

all things that Jesus commanded. True, as our brother 
has said, there is no office in the church except over- 
seer and deacon. The office of an evangelist is not a 
church office. 

We have a glorious army of young men now called 
into the held, capable of one of the noblest works ever 
done by men. They have it in their hearts to do that 
work ; but if they are perverted they will be ruined 
and will never accomplish the work to which they have 
given themselves. They must not, on the one hand, 
be discouraged and disheartened, but encouraged and 
their way opened ; and, on the other hand, they must 
not be arrogant, conceited and vain, but humble, gen- 
tle, and kind ; examples of piety, purity and moral 
excellence. They must not think to leap into authority 
by virtue of being preachers, but, by faithful labor 
and noble deeds, win their way and gain an influence 
among the people of God. If, now and then, one of 
them is puffed up, filled with conceit and arrogance, 
the same is true of other classes of men, and it is no 
argument against them as a class, but against the 
individual. 



322 BOOK OF GEMS. 



THE SECRET OF SUCCESS IN PREACHING. 



J ^OTHING short of the highest morality and the 
I most perfect subordination can ever secure com- 
y plete success. Most indispensable is high repu- 
tation in all its public functionaries. A religious body 
whose public organs do not sustain purity of morals, 
chastity of address, and dignity of character, with 
most elevated natural and acquired attainments, can 
never do much towards the purification and elevation 
of the debased and degraded children of men. So 
important is this that some rule seems to be necessary 
to enable us to distinguish those who labor to show 
themselves off to a good advantage, from those who 
seek the honor of the blessed Master. It is one thing 
to preach in such a way as to make the people think 
of and confess their sins, but it is quite another thing 
for the mere actor to show himself off, in such a way 
as to induce the hearers to say, he is the greatest man 
we ever heard ! A fine speaker may present such a 
beautiful theory on faith, as to delight a popular audi- 
ence, without producing faith in a single soul, while 
the most immethodical speaker, whose heart is greatly 
impressed with the facts to be believed, will throw out 
the great realities of revelation with such earnestness 
and zeal as to make believers wherever he goes. Just 
so fine theories on repentance may be delivered in the 
shape of sermons, and listened to with applause, with- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 323 

out inducing any one to think of repenting, while some 
old-fashioned preacher reasoning upon righteousness 
and a judgment to come, in the most immethodical 
manner, will cause sinners to tremble all around. The 
reason of this is not that one class has method while 
the other has not, but one class presents the mighty 
truth of God, while the other simply presents a fine 
theory concerning the truth. The result is that in one 
case the truth itself is believed and admired, while in 
the other case the fine theory is the only thing seen, 
and the preacher who delivered it the only object 
adored. 



•»» ««• 




TEDIOUSNESS IN PUBLIC DEVOTIONS. 

E wish to allude to some errors into which some 
elders have fallen, for their advantage. We 
^ have an opportunity of being better acquainted 
with some difficulties in churches than the elders them- 
selves can. When we visit some congregations, the 
elders complain that they will not turn out to meeting. 
The brethren say the reason more will not turn out is, 
that the elders are in the habit of preaching long and 
uninteresting sermons, which they have heard over 
and over again, until they know every comma and 
semi-colon. And now the congregation has dwindled 
down to insignificance, and the few who are faithful 



324 BOOK OF OEMS. 

enough to attend are annoyed with a lengthy harangue 
on the subject of the non-attendance of the members. 
There is certainly a great impropriety in this course. 
But few men are able to interest an audience with a 
lengthy discourse on every first day of the week. Those 
men who have been most successful in holding large 
audiences, where they preach very frequently in the 
same place, are usually very brief in their addresses, 
and very fearful of wearying the patience of their 
hearers. Some men of very fine talent have lost their 
audiences, on no account but their tediousness ; and if 
it thus fares with men of talent, what may we expect 
from men of slender abilities ? It is very wearisome 
to those, who can hardly be induced to attend the 
place of meeting at any time, to hear a brother of 
limited information, and a poor speaker, for the space 
of an hour or an hour and a half. Time seems doubly 
long to them. 

The uneasiness seen in this class, causes all the rest 
to be uneasy, and every one wishes the sermon to close. 
Some begin to leave, others begin to button up their 
coats, get their hats and whips ready, look at their 
watches, and appear almost on the rise, while some 
through respect try to appear contented. Let the fault 
lie where it may in such cases, it is as certain as any 
thing can be, that the preaching is doing no good. If 
the same brethren would make their addresses very 
short, and be as interesting as possible, they would not 
have to complain half so often about the delinquency 
of their brethren in attending meeting, and secure the 
reputation of much better preachers. 

There is another kind of tediousness, almost as in- 
sufferable as long sermons. The selecting and singing 



BOOK OF GEMS. 325 

of long hymns, in a cold and formal manner, after a 
tedious sermon, can have no good effect. Lengthy 
ceremonies in administering the communion, are 
always in opposition to its good influence, and very 
wearisome to the restless. But last, though by no 
means least, it is not to be endured for elders to detain 
the audience, while they may consult together five or 
ten minutes, about appointments and other matters of 
this kind, and then be very tedious in announcing 
them. All matters of this kind ought to be despatched 
with readiness. 



I»» M i 



RESURRECTION-AD AMIC SIN. 




E doubt not that precisely what was lost in 
Adam will be restored in Christ, or, that what- 
ever the injury that resulted from the agency of 
Adam was, it will be removed by Christ. Whatever was 
included in the word " die " will be counteracted by 
what was included in the words " made alive." The 
penalty inflicted on account of the Adamic sin will 
all be removed from the whole race, in Christ, the 
second Adam, or the Lord from heaven. No man will 
be lost in the world to come on account of the Adamic 
sin. There is not an intimation in the Bible of any 
man being punished in the world to come on account 
of original sin. The /punishment in the world to 



326 BOOK OF GEMS. 

come is threatened in view of our own, or what school- 
men call " actual sin." The penalty sentenced on 
account of Adam's sin has fallen, as a consequence, on 
the whole race. By Christ, in the resurrection, this 
consequence will be removed, and pardon, through the 
blood of Christ, will release all who come to the 
Savior, from their own sins, or their actual sins, and 
thus save them from punishment in the world to come. 



•p- -• 



PAYING PREACHERS A STIPULATED SUM. 



Tf F a man, or a certain body of men, wish to control 
^| the labors of a farmer or mechanic, and apply 
them as they may see proper, it is but the voice of 
reason and Scripture that they give him a reasonable 
compensation to support him while performing his 
labor. In precisely the same way, if any man, church 
or co-operation, wish to control and appropriate the 
labors of the preacher of the Word, they should give 
him a reasonable compensation. But when the ques- 
tion is under advisement, of employing a man at a 
certain point, and for a certain amount, the question 
is not whether he will preach, but whether he will 
preach at that point and for that amount. He is 
bound in his covenant with the Lord to preach, but 
the Lord has left him to select his own field of labor. 
He selects his field, performs his labor, and looks to 



BOOK OF GEMS. 327 

the Lord for his support. But all this does not say, 
that his brethren should not promise him a certain 
amount, and with the utmost punctuality fulfill their 
promise. 

"I do not think it is right to promise a certain 
amount," says one, "we can not tell what we shall be 
able to give." Did you hire that man to work on your 
farm without promising him a " certain amount?" 
Did you buy that farm that you are in debt for with- 
out promising a certain amount? We judge not, 
and not a small amount at that. Why, then, should 
men, constantly in the habit of promising certain 
amounts for everything else, be so cautious about 
promising the poor preacher of the word of God — the 
man to whom society is more indebted than any other 
man, for all that is pure and good, a certain amount 
to subsist upon while he sojourns in this life ? 

" I thought you said the preacher should trust to 
the Lord for his support," says one? Certainly he 
should, just as you trust to the Lord for his preaching. 
You trust to the Lord to enable him to perform his 
preaching according to arrangements, and he trusts in 
the Lord that you will be enabled to support him as 
promised, the same as your hired man trusts in the 
Lord for what you promised him, or as you trust in 
the Lord for the products of your farm. Yet the 
preacher knows not the ability the Lord may give him, 
nor what amount of money he may need. It may be 
more or less, but it is not his reward for his labor, but 
merely his support — or, if you prefer it, his board 
while he labors for the Lord. But he does not intend 
to spend the whole reward of his labor in this life, 
but is laying up a good foundation against the time to 



328 BOOK OF GEMS. 

come. They are prodigals who run through all their 
earnings as fast as earned. The Lord does not intend 
his servants to do this. He gives them a subsistence 
as they pass along, or money for their expenses, but 
the main bulk of their wages is laid up in heaven, and 
can not be estimated by dollars and cents. May God 
put it into the hearts of the children of God to look 
to the temporal wants of the young men who have 
entered this great work. 



SELF-LAUDATION. 



[jr'O see the mere worldling, whether the politician, 
the lawyer, physician, or whatsoever, an egotist 
— full of self -laudation — giving himself the glory 
for everything good, and acquitting himself from 
everything evil, is contemptible enough in all con- 
science. Nothing can sink a man faster in the esti- 
mation of sensible men. But in the kingdom of 
Christ, where all is purely of the grace of God — 
where none has anything that he did not receive, and 
where all are held responsible in proportion to the 
ability that God gives, and where each one has to get 
down upon his knees, before his holy and perfect 
Master, and confess his weakness, imperfection, short- 
comings, and nothingness in the sight of God, how 
transcendently ridiculous to see egotism, self-lauda- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 329 

tion, and an effort to glorify the creature in the place 
of the Creator ! And how perfectly incompatible, too, 
such a spirit with the meek and lowly spirit of Christ 
and the apostles ! 



•»■■«• 



PREACH CHRIST, NOT OURSELVES. 



fAUL says, " God forbid that I should glory, save 
in the cross of Christ." Again, he says, "I 
determined to make known nothing among you, 
but Christ and him crucified." I come not to you 
with excellency of speech, and the wisdom of men's 
words, but with the demonstration of the Holy Spirit 
and of power. He further asserts that the gospel 
which he preached, he did not receive from man, but 
by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Many such expres- 
sions are found in the writings of the holy apostles 
going to show the precaution constantly used by them, 
lest the glory of Christ should be attributed to them. 
The very first sentence that escaped the lips of Peter 
in Solomon's portico, was to the same effect. " Why 
look ye so steadfastly upon us, as if by our own 
power or holiness, this man had been made whole ?" 
He proceeds : " The name of Jesus Christ, through 
faith in his name, hath given him this perfect sound- 
ness in the presence of you all?" 

The good Cornelius tried Peter, at the same point, 



330 BOOK OF GEMS. 

on his first aproacli into his presence. He fell down 
before the apostle and was about to worship him. 
Peter told him to stand up — that he himself was also 
a man, and demanded of him why he had sent for 
him. After hearing the account given by Cornelius, of 
his prayer, his having seen an angel, and what the 
angel said to him, the apostle began upon the great 
burthen that he carried upon his soul. In a few 
words he declared that God anointed Jesus of Naza- 
reth with the Holy Ghost and with power. This was 
the great subject the apostles carried upon their 
hearts. Respecting themselves, they knew not what 
would befall them, save the testimony of the Holy 
Spirit, that bonds and imprisonment awaited them ; 
nor did they count their lives dear unto themselves, 
but they counted all things but loss, if they could but 
win Christ. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 331 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST A PROSELYTING 
INSTITUTION. 



.NE of the most striking differences between the 
Mosaic and Christian institutions is, that the 
latter is a proselyting institution, while the 
former was not. Errorists among the Jews, contrary 
to the spirit of their institution, ran into great prose- 
lyting efforts ; while errorists in the kingdom of Christ, 
contrary to the spirit of their institution, leave the 
spirit of proselyting. Those Jews who had such a 
desire for proselyting, should have been Christians, 
and the Christians who have no zeal for proselyting 
should have been Jews. It would have suited their 
capacity, views and feelings better, to have been born 
into a church as they were born into the world ; and a 
sign in the flesh, such as circumcision, as a mark of 
distinction between them and the rest of mankind, put 
upon them when eight days old ; and when the num- 
bers of the church were replenished by natural gen- 
eration and birth, and not in an institution where men 
can not enter except by being born again — where they 
are begotten, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible 
seed, by the word of Grod, which liveth and abideth 
forever — where men can not enter by natural genera- 
tion, but must enter by regeneration or not enter at 
all. 
If men who have no zeal to proselyte, had been born 



332 BOOK OF GEMS. 

in an institution where every child born of church 
members is also a church member, they would have 
suited well to them the lessons from the law of Moses 
on the Sabbath day, and perform the dull and spirit- 
less ceremonies of the synagogue. No doubt they 
could have gone through the performances with as 
much formality and as little grace as a Jewish rabbi. 
Many of these, if they had the priestly robe, Aaron's 
rod, the pot with manna, the shew bread, etc., 
would figure much more decorously back among the 
types and shadows, than they do here among the good 
things to come. They are better adapted for the letter 
than for the spirit, for they almost convert the house 
of God — the spiritual building, where the spirit of God 
dwells, and where we are required to worship in spirit 
and in truth — into the dry and irksome ceremonies of 
the Jewish synagogue. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 333 



OBSERVING THE SABBATH. 




JjJ 



HAT is there in teaching that Christians mast 
keep the seventh, or Sabbath day, to impart or 
^ perpetuate spiritual life? The very seed of 
ruin is in such teaching. There is no Christ in it. It 
did not originate with Christ, but is an ti- christian. 
The Lord never taught his disciples to keep the sev- 
enth or Sabbath day, nor did his apostles ever teach 
this. The first Christians did not meet on the seventh 
day " to break bread," but on the first day. When 
they met on the first day they did not observe it as 
the Sabbath. It was a different day from the Sabbath, 
took its rise from a different event, and had a different 
object and entirely different associations. The Sab- 
bath originated in God's resting on the seventh day. 
It pointed to this rest and originated in it. It had no 
Christ in it, did not originate with Christ, nor point to 
him. It had nothing in it to bring him, or anything 
he ever did to view, and nothing can be done more 
directly calculated to draw the mind entirely off from 
Christ than to fill the mind of the christian with the 
Sabbath, and get the first day of the week and all its 
hallowed associations and memories out of his mind. 
The first day of the week derives its entire religious 
significance from the* resurrection of our Lord, and 
the commemoration of the Savior's sufferings keeps 
his death continually before us, pointing back to his 



334 BOOK OF GEMS. 

death for our sins, and forward to his second coming. 
Are christians to be perverted and their minds and 
hearts carried away from the death of Jesus, his res- 
urrection and his coining, and all the sublime associa- 
tions and memories connected with the first day of 
the week ; turned back and put to the meditations of 
a Jew, commemorating the rest of God on the seventh 
day, after he had completed the work of creation? 
Nothing can be more anti-christian than this. This is 
Judaism in the most deadly type. It is literally turn- 
ing away from Christ to Judaism ; from the day that 
brings the great event to view, that lies at the founda- 
tion of the faith and the entire kingdom of God ; the 
resurrection of our Lord from the dead, and the death 
of Jesus for our sins. If purposely designed to lead 
us away from the Savior and ruin us, nothing could 
be more completely suited to the purpose than this 
Judaizing, Sadducean, no-spirit, no-angel and no-res- 
urrection theory. The theory, on its face, carries 
its own condemnation ; but, in the numerous cases of 
ruin wrought by it, we have the demonstration of its 
destructive character. 



BOOK OP GEMS. 335 



MARK THOSE WHO CAUSE DIVISIONS. 



I 



E have no confidence in men and theories that 
have no power except to scatter, tear down and 
^ destroy. The time has come when the brethren 
should put their mark upon all this description of men 
we care not what their idol may be, who are simply 
prating, whining, complaining, and murmuring among 
loving disciples gathered by the labors and sacrifices 
of other men, but who never built up a church, healed 
a difficulty, or promoted peace any p]ace in their lives. 
Nothing is so ridiculous as for such men to go grum- 
bling round the country, finding fault with everything, 
pulling down other men's labor, and building up noth- 
ing, all the while prating about progression and refor- 
mation. Tremendous progress, that miserable prating, 
whining, and grumbling that never builds up anything 
but always pulls down, catches the sheep and scatters 
them ! Mighty reformers they, who never reformed 
any body since God made them, who never built up a 
church or gave any prosperity to the cause, any place, 
or did anything more than scatter and devastate! 
Atheism has done this much, and will do it again. If 
men have found any new light worth anything, and 
are themselves men of any force, improvement will 
appear ; fruits will follow their labors. But nothing 
can be more manifest than that God did not send those 
men who only spread desolation, who only pull down, 



336 BOOK OY GEMS. 

scatter, and kill, we care not what fine theories they 
propagate, nor how prettily they may talk. We want 
men who will preach the Lord Jesns Christ, who will 
regard him, adore him, and obey him, and not a set of 
self-willed men, who idolize their own notions, and are 
determined to have them and propagate them, if the 
Lord's name is forgotten, and the fold scattered 
asnnder. Mercy and peace npon the Israel of God. 
JVCark them who cause divisions and contentions. 



RELIGION AND POLITICS. 



J- ,irRE we, as disciples of Christ, citizens of a king- 
iT dom not of this world, a religious community, 
f to be distracted, disconcerted, and thrown into 
confusion ? or, are we drawn to a common center, by an 
attraction so heavenly, commanding, and binding, that 
no side-influence can divert us from our course ? The 
Lord is about to test us, prove us, and show whether 
we are true, sincere, and men of integrity to the great 
principles which we profess, and have been inculca- 
ting, or will turn traitor to them, despise them, and 
trample them under our feet. We have been preach- 
ing union upon the Bible, and the Bible alone, to our 
neighbors ; but, the time has come to test us practi- 
cally, and compel us to apply our philosophy in an 
instance of the greatest moment, and best calculated, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 337 

of all others, to show its power — its moral and spirit- 
ual efficacy among ourselves. 

What course shall we take, then, during the coming 
campaign? Shall preachers of the gospel of Christ 
enter the pulpit, with exciting political news in their 
heads and hearts, and make Kansas-Nebraska, 
and anti-Kansas-Nebraska, Slavery and an ti- Slavery 
speeches? Shall their themes be the Constitution, 
Liberty, Popular Sovereignty, North, South, Fillmore, 
Buchanan, Fremont, American, Democratic and Re- 
publican. Shall these be the themes that consecrate 
the house of God during the coming months, while 
thousands are perishing for the word of God, and 
dying in their sins ? We say, and would if we had a 
voice louder than the seven thunders of the Apoca- 
lypse, and more immutable than the oath of the angel 
of God, standing with one foot upon the land, and the 
other upon the sea, say, no, by no means, for the fol- 
lowing reasons : 

First. Jesus and his apostles, in all their official 
acts, never attempted to correct the political institu- 
tions of the country, no matter how corrupt they were, 
but left them, and those who made them, to take care 
of their own responsibilities. We must follow their 
precedent, or we are not the disciples of Christ. 

Second. Our Lord and his apostles, in all their 
official procedure, never made a decision, or gave even 
an opinion, upon the merits or demerits of any form 
of civil government, republican, monarchical, either 
limited or absolute. They left all these matters to 
take their course, and lifted their thoughts above 
them to a spiritual kingdom, that shall endure when 
time shall be no more. We must do as they did, or 
forfeit our claim to be one with them. 



338 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Third. The Lord and his apostles never made a 
decision, or gave an opinion, on any system of slavery, 
though slavery existed, in some form or other, in 
every country where they preached and wrote, in all 
their official career. We must humble ourselves to 
the same limits. 

Fourth. We have the infallible directions of the 
Spirit of God, to believers, connected with slavery, 
both masters and servants, and these directions we 
must give, when we speak on the subject at all, or 
depart from the faith, because we are opposed to it. 
Every man who does not do this, manifestly repudi- 
ates the practice and teachings of the holy apostles. 

Fifth. Jesus and his apostles did not found 
slavery of any kind, and neither our Lord nor his 
religion can be responsible for any system of slavery 
or its results, no matter how good or how bad. Slavery 
is an institution of the world, as all other political 
institutions are, and neither the kingdom of God nor 
its subjects are responsible for its results. 

Sixth. Our Lord and his apostles never formed an 
issue between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms 
of this world. How utterly preposterous and absurd 
it is, to the mind of one who has noticed, that our 
Lord never made an issue between his kingdom, or 
his religion, and any civil government or kingdom of 
the world, to see some misguided creature trying to 
form a direct issue between the kingdom of God and 
whatever political institution he may chance to fall 
out with ' and trying to set the citizens in the king- 
dom of Christ in battle array with the citizens of the 
civil government ! Such a man has no use for a church 
only as a kind of battering-ram to beat down some 



BOOK OF GEMS. 339 

sinful institution that he has just perceived is to ruin 
the nation. He would have the kingdom of God a 
convenient engine, properly adjusted and poised, him- 
self commander-in-chief, so that he can now bring it to 
bear upon Masons, then upon Odd Fellows, anon upon 
Sons of Temperance, then upon Slavery, or any other 
monster that may rise. But the man who stands upon 
an eminence lofty enough to discern the kingdom of 
God, beholds an institution with an aim transcendently 
higher than deciding upon the rights and wrongs of 
the political governments of the world, amending, cor- 
recting, and perfecting them ; the superlatively noble, 
grand, and beneficent object of translating individuals , 
whether high or low, rich or poor, bond or free, whether 
their political institutions are good or bad, out of 
darkness into light, and out of the kingdom of Satan 
into the kingdom of God, and in their few remaining 
days here, no matter what their earthly condition, pre- 
pare them for guests of the redeemed hosts who have 
washed their robes and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb, in the house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens. 

Seventh. Christianity is the thing to be promoted, 
and not to be used as a mere instrumentality , by men 
who care nothing about it, and who are doing but little 
to advance it, to promote some object of their own 
worldly ambition. We must promote Christianity 
itself, and not employ it as a mere means to promote 
something else. 

" Well, sir, what would you have a christian do in 
regard to rulers and civil governments?" says one. 
When acting as a citizen in the kingdom of God, or in 
the house of God, " Pray for kings and all that are in 



340 BOOK OF GEMS. 

authority, that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life, 
in all godliness and honesty." "Be subject to the 
powers that be," remembering that " we have no con- 
tinuing city here," and that " this world is not our 
home." When acting as a citizen of the civil govern- 
ment, be candid, quiet, peaceable, and kind, and do 
just what you thinTc right, allowing every man the 
same privilege, as Christ has left us all free here, and 
leave the event with God. 

There are spiritual-minded persons in almost all the 
parties around us ; and if we determine to know nothing 
but Christ, nothing but pure Christianity, and confine 
ourselves strictly to the clear revelations of heaven — ■ 
preach the pure gospel of the grace of God — preach 
Christ, and determine to know nothing else, while a 
mere carnal and worldly priesthood harangue their 
assemblies on politics, mix up church and State, law 
and gospel, turning their religious organizations into 
mere political engines, the very thing we have con- 
demned the Romish priesthood for, thus wounding the 
feelings of all the more spiritual-minded members and 
splitting their parties asunder, thousands of them will 
seek a church where the name of Jesus has charms, 
where the Lord is loved and worshipped, and where the 
true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth. Let us keep the way clear for such, receive 
them to the fold of Christ, and show them how they 
can serve God and get to heaven, whether they can 
ever understand the slavery question or not. 

Many of us have labored long and hard and sacri- 
ficed the main energies of our lives in gathering the 
many thousands to the fold of Christ that now throng 
places of public worship, and we can not remain silent 



BOOK OF GEMS. 341 

and see them scattered by the indiscreet and impru- 
dent course of brethren, in thrusting upon them, and 
seeming to think that their souls' salvation is sus- 
pended upon their rightly understanding the question 
of American slavery. We admonish the brethren to 
have nothing to do with any such question in the 
church. The Lord has not required the church, the 
preachers, or religious editors to make any decision, 
or to hold any particular class of opinions on the sub- 
ject, nor can any man be blameless and push any such 
question into the kingdom of God. We will stand 
square upon the Bible, by the Lord, the apostles, and 
every man who will stand by them. The Lord direct 
us! 



i » ■<• 



PRAYER BOOKS. 



'HE Church of England has abounded toward her 
people in all wisdom and prudence. In doing so 
she has supplied them with the " Prayer-Book," 
not only for weak members, who can not pray, but for 
her strong members, specially the clergy, giving the 
very words they must pray on all occasions. In this 
exuberance of her benevolence she has supplied a 
deficiency in the will of God, an omission in the law of 
God, an item that Paul overlooked when he " shunned 
not to declare the whole counsel of God ;" an item not 



342 BOOK OF GEMS. 

in the " all things that pertain to life and godliness," 
mentioned by Peter, nor in " all Scripture given by in- 
spiration," mentioned by Panl, to " perfect the man of 
God and thoroughly furnish him for all good works." 
There are many among them that can read prayers, as 
they have them in print in the " Prayer-Book," and do 
read them, but we are not aware that they have any 
more that can pray than those who have no such 
"Prayer-Book." 

If we can not learn from the Lord and the apostles 
how to pray ; from the Scriptures, so that we can pray 
we would not learn from all the prayer-books ever 
printed. Read the prayers of the Lord and holy men, 
recorded in Scripture, and the instructions of the Lord 
and the inspired writings ; take the " Concordance " 
and run through the Bible, read and study all you find 
about it, and practice it daily, and you find not only 
that you can learn 7iow, but to love to pray, and to be 
impressed continually with the importance of it. Let 
the desire be in the heart in the words, " Lord, teach 
us how to pray," and you will soon learn to ask for 
any thing you need. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 343 



UPWARD TENDENCY-REFORMATION NOT A 
FAILURE-MISSIONARY WORK. 



'HE effort we have made, and are now making, at 
reformation, can never prove a failure upon any 
ground, unless it be that we have not moral cour- 
age enough, as the disciples of Christ — have not suf- 
ficient integrity to the great principles of the gospel, 
to which we have pledged ourselves, to maintain them 
against the mighty torrent of opposition from the 
various ranks of bigotry, prejudice, and partyism, 
together with the combined influence of unbelief and 
sin. The position we occupy can never fail. While 
the holy prophets live and speak in their writing; 
while the preaching of the apostles, their lives, mira- 
cles and martyrdoms, live in the memory of men ; 
while Jesus lives, and the throne of the Almighty, 
upon which he sits, stands unmoved, the position 
we occupy can not fail. The gospel will live and he 
who believes it shall never die. The men who believe 
the gospel, who love it, and hold on to it — keep 
the faith, press it to their hearts, love and reverence 
him who gave it, will live co-existent with, the years of 
God. They will never fail ; their lives, in this mortal 
state, will fail ; but they, at the same moment, will 
triumph. They are not in any doubt and uncertainty, 
in calling upon their fellow man to return to the faith 
as it was at the beginning. They have no fears that 



344 BOOK OF GEMS. 

they are wrong, or that they can possibly be mistaken 
in making the best effort in their power to determine 
precisely what the ancient faith was, separating it from 
everything else, and maintaining it before the world. 
They know they are right in this. In one word, they 
believe the gospel, maintain and defend it, and noth- 
ing else. It is the system they believe, maintain and 
defend and nothing else. They may not understand 
everything contained in it, as others who have other 
systems, do not understand everything in their sys- 
tem ; but the system itself we know to be right, infal- 
libly right and that we are infallibly right in main- 
taining it; not because we understand everything 
contained in it ; but because we know the author of it, 
and know him to be divine — infallible. We know him, 
love him and regard him ; therefore we know that what 
proceeds from him is infallible, and love it and regard 
it. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 345 



MEN CAN BELIEVE AND DO BELIEVE. 




HY does the speculator offer one dollar more to- 
day, than he did yesterday, per barrel for flour ? 
^ Because he believes the news he has received, 
of an advance in some other market. Why does that 
pork dealer advance the price one dollar per barrel ? 
Because he believes the news of an advance in some 
other market. Why does that trader refuse that bank 
bill ? Because he believes the statement in the detec- 
tor, that it is under par. Look through the various 
departments in life, business transactions and all, and 
see what a vast amount of it is done by faith. All 
business men are daily and hourly acting in matters 
where thousands of dollars are involved upon faith, 
and acting with great confidence, too. Look at that 
man at the post office, opening a letter and reading ! 
In a few minutes you see him stopping quickly and 
closing an engagement, involving thousands of dol- 
lars ! What is he acting upon ? Faith in the letter 
just received and read. Look at that other man, wait- 
ing for a dispatch. Presently he receives and reads 
it. In a few minutes he is waiting the arrival of the 
cars. As the cars approach, you notice him eyeing 
the passengers as they come out of the train. Pres- 
ently he rests his eye upon a man. In the next 
moment the man is arrested ! What is he acting 
upon ? Faith in the telegraphic dispatch he had just 



346 BOOK OF GEMS. 

received. Thus we perceive men are constantly act- 
ing upon faith in all the affairs of this life. 

Is it possible that men who are thus constantly, and 
without hesitation, acting upon faith, will have the 
assurance to apologize for their unbelief in matters of 
religion, by saying they cannot believe ? It will also 
be observed that the men thus acting are not merely 
a few credulous and thoughtless persons, but business 
men of all classes— men of the first order of mind, 
thus showing that they can believe and do believe, in 
matters of great importance, and thus demonstrating 
that they can believe in matters of religion, as well as 
others, if they will but give a candid attention to the 
evidence. The same faculties of the mind exercised 
in believing the news of the day, political, commer- 
cial, or of sickness, health, or accidents, etc., are exer- 
cised in believing the divine testimonies. The same 
mind that believes the testimony of men, is exercised 
in believing the testimony of God. The difference in 
the effect produced upon the human soul, by divine 
testimony, or divine faith, from that produced by 
human testimony, or what is purely human faith, is 
not that the same mind, or the same faculties of the 
mind are not exercised in both cases, nor is it owing 
to the difference between divine and human testimony ; 
but the difference is in the things believed — the differ- 
ence between divine and 1mm an things believed. 
Heavenly things believed would, beyond all dispute, 
make a different impression from that produced by the 
belief of earthly things, however true they might be. 
A mere earthly truth, even if proved by divine testi- 
mony, could produce no more than an earthly impres- 
sion ; but a heavenly truth, if proved by earthly 



BOOK OF GEMS. 347 

testimony, would produce a heavenly impression. 
The same mind that understands and believes that 
there is an advance in the flour market, believes that 
the Lord rose from the dead, but the effect produced 
by the faith in one instance, is very different from that 
produced in the other instance ; not because different 
powers are exercised in believing ; nor because the 
testimony differs ; but because the things believed 
differ. 

The relation a thing believed sustains to the believer, 
is the main cause of its effect upon him. Robert 
Owen, who professed to have read, and traveled forty 
years, without being able to find any evidence of the 
truth of Christianity, has lately become a believer in 
Spiritualism. How is it, that he is so slow to believe 
in one case, but so ready to believe in the other? The 
reason is to be found in the relation these two things 
to be believed, sustain to him. The belief in modern 
Spiritualism involves nothing, requires nothing and 
promises nothing. It is merely a speculative subject, 
for vain and idle curiosity ; placing no man under any 
new obligations who believes it. It is a very suitable 
thing to catch a man of a perverted mind and heart ; 
one who has rejected Jesus ; resisted the testimonies 
of the Holy Spirit, and despised the Bible during an 
earthly pilgrimage of many years, which G-od has 
mercifully and graciously granted him. But the fact 
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God — that he is 
divine— that he is alive and lives forever and ever, is 
a fact sustaining a different relation to time. It is not 
a speculative fact for idle curiosity ; not a mere theme 
for empty, cold and unfeeling hearts ; for idle, con- 
fused and wandering brains ; but a fact, intimately 



348 BOOK OF GEMS. 

connected with all mankind; a fact, in which the 
destinies of all men are involved ; one, too, bearing 
upon the lives and conduct of all men. Here is the 
reason that many are so slow to believe this, the 
greatest and most important of all the facts presented 
for the belief of mankind : it requires a holy life. A 
strange feature truly is it, in men, that they should 
prefer to believe that which requires nothing, proposes 
nothing and promises nothing, to that requiring the 
purest life, most exalted character, and ennobled feel- 
ings, promising the approbation of the Almighty now, 
and eternal joy in the world to come ! 

What reason can any man give for such opposition ? 
No man believes that the Lord Jesus Christ ever made 
any human being worse. No man sincerely believes 
that the Bible makes any person worse ; or that the 
Christian religion does any harm to any one of 
our sinful race. No human being solemnly believes 
that any harm could result from the universal preva- 
lence of pure Christianity, as set forth upon the pages 
of the New Testament, throughout the world. All 
men, upon cool and deliberate reflection, must be sat- 
isfied, that if all the peoples, nations, tribes and 
tongues of the earth, were fully under the power and 
influence of the Bible, mankind would be infinitely 
blessed by it. Not a sceptic in the world can give a 
reason for his opposition to the Lord Jesus and the 
Bible. O, that men knew Jesus! 0, that they pos- 
sessed his spirit and temper ! O, that they would love 
him and be blessed by him ! 



BOOK OF GEMS. 349 



CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 



, > 'HE act of uniting with a church is not with the 
idea of being changed or made better, in our- 
selves, but to be placed in the right relation. The 
man who is a christian ought to be united with other 
christians in a congregation where he can worship 
according to the Scriptures. It is one thing to become 
a christian, and another thing to find and unite with a 
congregation of christians where the ordinances are 
kept and the authority of Christ is maintained. 

It is one thing to become a member of the body of 
Christ, or, which is the same, enter into the kingdom 
of God, and another thing for a person to unite with a 
local congregation. - The Ethiopian officer became a 
christian, or entered into the kingdom of Grod, or the 
body of Christ, in obeying the gospel ; but this did 
not make him a member of any particular local con- 
gregation, where he would meet with other christians 
and worship. This required an additional step. By 
faith, repentance and baptism he entered into Christ, 
or in the body of Christ, or became a christian. But 
if he has thus come into the general body, or thus 
become a christian, and then united with the Baptist 
church, or any other church, where he can not worship 
according to the Scriptures ; where they do not com- 
memorate the sufferings and death of Jesus regularly 
on the first day of the week, as the first Christians did ; 



350 BOOK OF GEMS. 

where they have an unauthorized name, a human creed 
and other things contrary to Scripture ; he has a right, 
and more, he ought to seek a gospel church where he 
can worship according to Scripture. 



•»■ + • 



BELIEVERS ONLY TO BE BAPTIZED. 



v J APTISM, the initiatory rite, or the act of entering 
* Tjk the church, is a command. All commands must 
Qj t be preceded by faith. The divine authority, 
requiring baptism, must be recognized, before the com- 
mand can be obeyed ; and the divine authority can 
only be recognized by faith. How, then, can a com- 
mand be obeyed by one without faith, without a con- 
sciousness of divine authority, or even the knowledge 
that the command exists ? Such a practice subverts 
the command of God in every case where it obtains, 
and if it should become universal, would set aside and 
annihilate all obedience to the command to be bap- 
tized. In every case, where an infant is baptized, and 
prevailed upon, in after life, to be content with its 
baptism and infant membership, one person is effect 
ually prevailed upon never to obey the command to be 
baptized, and never, personally, to bow to the author- 
ity of Jesus in voluntarily entering into covenant with 
him. The person is deceived, and made to think, 
when come to the years of accountability, that two 



BOOK OF GEMS. 351 

tilings have been done that never have been done, viz : 

1. That the command to be baptized has been obeyed. 

2. That the requirement to enter into the church has 
been complied with. Neither the one nor the other 
has been complied with at all. 



•>» ««• 



THE KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY BEFORE BAPTISM. 



OME person, — name not known — writing from 
! Ripley, Ohio, inquires whether persons baptized 
when very young, under excitement, having but 
little understanding of the import of baptism; and, 
after coming to mature years, become dissatisfied and 
desire to be baptized over again, should he then be 
baptized again ? This question is entirely outside of 
the New Testament, and purely a question of opinion. 
Among the many thousands baptized by the apostles, 
there were many, evidently, who had but an imperfect 
understanding of the whole matter, not only of very 
young persons, but many very illiterate persons. Yet 
there is no account of any, on coming to a fuller under- 
standing, who desired to be baptized in the name of 
the Lord. It matters not how little understanding 
persons have, if they believe in the Lord, repent of 
their sins, confess and obey the Savior. Nor is the 
circumstance that a person afterward understands the 
matter more fully, a reason why such an one should 



352 BOOK OF GEMS. 

be baptized again ; but simply an evidence of a proper 
growth in knowledge. There has been much said 
about the measure of understanding that must be had 
before baptism, that would cut off one half of the 
apostolic converts. Conversion is simply turning to 
God, and there are but few who aim not to do this. 



e»» -+i 



PAUL AND JAMES, ON JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 



^HE difficulty in this case is not to be solved in 
dreams about different Mnds of faith. Writers 
may speculate upon different kinds of faith till 
doomsday, and neither extricate themselves from the 
difficulty, nor their readers. James and Paul were 
speaking of precisely the same kind of faith; but 
Paul's " deeds of the law " are not the same as James' 
" works ;" or no man can avoid a contradiction. Paul 
and James are both speaking of the faith that justi- 
fies man, but neither of them are speaking of faith 
alone. Paul and James were speaking of the faith of 
Christ, by which the heart is purified, " without the 
deeds of the law" of Moses, and both would have 
agreed any time, that by the deeds of the law of 
Moses, no man could be justified in the sight of God. 
But the deeds of the law of Moses and the deeds of 
the gospel — the "good works which God has ordained 
that we should walk in them " — as mentioned by Paul 



BOOK OF GEMS. 353 

— Eph. ii. 10 — and the works of James, are not the 
same by any means. Panl was argning against 
opposing Jews, who contended that men could be 
justified by the works or deeds of the law of Moses, 
and maintained in opposition to them, that, by the 
deeds of their law, no man could be justified in the 
sight of God ; but man is now j ustified by the faith 
of Christ, that works by love and purifies the heart — 
through the deeds of the gospel — the good works of 
the gospel — not the deeds of law, but the works of 
faith, like the works of Abraham, of which James 
speaks. 

Neither Paul nor James believed that justification 
was by faith alone. Neither of them believed, or 
taught, that j ustification was by the deeds of the law 
of Moses. Neither of them believed that a man 
could be justified by faith, without the works of the 
gospel. Justification is by faith, not in the law of 
Moses, but in Christ ; not alone, but, as Paul has it, 
in the " good works (of the gospel) which God hath 
ordained that we should walk in them ;" or, as James 
has it, in the case of Abraham, his faith, wrought with 
his works, and through the divine appointment of 
both his faith and his works, the Lord justifies those 
who come to him. It is neither faith nor works, either 
of law or gospel, that justifies the sinner. It is God 
that justifies ; but he only justifies those who come 
in a proper spirit, to his appointments. 



354 BOOK OF GEMS. 



CONTROVERSY. 



"|pET no man infer from this, however, that we favor, 
3- or in any way encourage, a love for controversy. 
^ This is another thing entirely. By no means do 
we love controversy. It is deplored always, or at least 
the occasion of it. But shall a man, because he deplores 
controversy — because he is sorry to come in collision 
with men — because he knows unpleasantness will 
arise, and the smooth surface will be ruffled, evade the 
issues between light and darkness — between Chris- 
tianity and everything else ? We did not make these 
issues and are not responsible for them. They exist 
whether we say anything about them or not, or whether 
we see them at all. The simple question is, whether 
we will stand by Christianity and maintain it — whether 
we will face the issue, in a kind, a manly and noble 
manner, or shrink, depart from it and allow it to be 
crushed down. Our motto is, Meet the issue fairly 
and squarely, in every instance of opposition to the 
gospel, in that way that shall prove most effectual. 
Let there be no evasion, but stand firm and present 
an unbroken front. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 355 



CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE SPIRIT* 






<V 



^jj^ANY brethren are inquiring of ns about the 
il Spirit, " correct views of the Spirit," and of " the 
influence of the Spirit," and insisting that we 
should respond to some things that are published, etc.; 
but, for the present, to all this we must simply say, 
that the Lord knows our hearts. He knows who have 
the Spirit, who are led by the Spirit, walk in the 
Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit and endeavor to 
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He 
knows them who are his, who love him and keep his 
commandments. Blessed be his name ; he is able to 
keep them from falling, make all grace abound to 
them and preserve them to his heavenly appearing 
and kingdom. With them, his great work is a reality, 
a real work, the greatest and best of all the works 
in which human beings have ever engaged ; and they 
believe he is with them, will be with them while they 
shall struggle for his cause in this world, and will 
be with them in the day when God shall judge 
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to the 
gospel. In him they have put their everlasting trust ; 

*A discussion of the subject of Spiritual Influence was carried on 
among the Disciples during the Decade, beginning in the year 1856. 
Benjamin Franklin's position, and indeed the gist of the controversy, is 
presented in the opening and closing paragraphs of an editorial in the 
A. C Review. 



356 BOOK OF GEMS. 

to him they have committed their cause, and to him 
they look for their final reward. They fear not what 
man can do to them, nor what he can sa.y of them, but 
they fear him who *s able to save and able to destroy, 
who is able to kill and able to make alive. We have 
nothing at stake only the cause of truth, of righteous- 
ness and humanity. We have no theory of our own 
to maintain, no philosophy to defend, nor pride of 
opinion to guard, but are willing to learn of the most 
humble disciple in the whole kingdom of God. If any 
brother really has more of the spirit of the Lord than 
we have, we envy him not because he has more than 
we, but we are only sorry that we have less than he. 
-* % * * 

By the way, as we now appear agreed that the Spirit 
of God should be actually received and enjoyed by 
the saints, whether that agreement be enforced by the 
terms of Scripture merely, or from the heart, God 
knows. There remains but a single point of import- 
ance in our mind. That is not, and has not been, 
whether the Spirit of God is actually received and 
enjoyed by the children of God; but whether any 
teachings are communicated to man, or revelations 
made, either before or after conversion, to saint or sin- 
ner, except through the senses. Are not the revela- 
tions of God inscribed upon the sacred pages of the 
Bible, the only teachings from heaven, for both the 
church and the world, and are not these imparted to 
man through the senses ? We do not believe that there 
are any revelations from God, or teachings, binding 
upon man, for saint or sinner, only those in the Bible, 
and these are imparted to man through the senses. If 
this is sensuous philosophy, then we are in for it. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 357 



& 

i 



SECTARIANISM. 

<jj^(jlUCH as has been said upon the evils of secta- 
| rianism, within the last forty or fifty years, it is 
still true, that no one has given the subject too 
high a coloring. Its evils are equal to the most bril- 
liant description we have had. Indeed, it is difficult 
to conceive how any one could speak, in too strong 
terms, of this one evil ; yet, the sin of partyism, like 
many other sins of these times, is so fashionable and 
popular, that it is scarcely seen to be a sin at all. It is 
true, all seem to look upon it as a sin, for a man to 
create partyism and strife in the party to which he 
belongs, or any other party. But, to keep up the 
parties now in existence, and defend the peculiarities 
upon which they are predicated, and from which they 
receive their very existence, is considered serving 
God. Now, if it can be considered service to the 
Lord, to build up and keep up that old mother and 
mistress of all heresy, the Roman Catholic Church, 
then, why was not the very mystery of iniquity,, 
already working in John's day, doing service to God, 
in originating that grand establishment of sin and 
iniquity ? Surely, it is giving as much glory to God 
to set on foot a great or a small religious scheme, as 
to keep it in motion after it is once started. . 

If it is doing the will of God to build up and sus- 
tain the Episcopalian Church now ; surely, he was 



358 BOOK OF OEMS. 

doing the will of God who originated it. This, no 
one will doubt. The same is true of the Lutheran, 
the Presbyterian, the Methodist Episcopal and all the 
indescribable parties which have descended from 
them. If it is service to the Lord now, to build them up,' 
it was equally as great service to him to originate 
them. It is a fact, too, that all these parties honor 
their originators as the greatest and best men the 
world has had. 

Now, how much should the opinions of these par- 
ties be considered worth ? or, how much are the most 
earnest and solemn decisions they ever made, to be 
regarded ? They would consider us highly uncharita- 
ble, if we did not regard these decisions as most 
solemnly true. Well, if the Roman Catholic Church 
ever made an earnest, an authoritative decision, in the 
world, it was when she declared Martin Luther a 
heretic. And what man, since his day, has broken off 
from an old party and established a new one, without 
most earnestly and solemnly being declared a heretic ? 
No such man can be mentioned. The old party 
always decides that a new one, that breaks off from 
it, is a heresy. In this way, all the parties now in 
existence, have been decided heresies, and the leaders 
in them heretics. Yet, these heresies, as they have 
styled them, headed by those who have bean decided 
heretics, have grown up, and are now called " evangel- 
ical churches" How is all this? If the Lord never 
authorized them to be started, did he authorize their 
perpetuation? And if he did authorize them to be 
started, were not the old parties awfully wicked in 
condemning them, when they were doing the will of 
the Lord ? 



BOOK OF GEMS. 359 

It, then, presents a fearful picture — turn the matter 
which way you may. If the parties, passing sen- 
tences, were wicked, and opposing the will of God, 
then are almost all wicked and sinful — for all the 
older and more popular, have passed such sentences. 
But if those upon whom sentence has been passed, 
are sinful, and under condemnation, then there are but 
few good, for such sentences have been passed upon 
nearly all. Such is the dilemma, in which partyism 
has involved the religious world. 

If ever the adversary of man discovered an effec- 
tual stratagem, by means of which to defeat all piety, 
and do execution in opposing the faith of God's elect, 
it was when he succeeded in sowing the seeds of dis- 
sension in the church of God. Our Lord's words show 
that he had this before his mind, when he uttered the 
solemn prayer, John xvii. 20 ; "I pray not for these 
alone, but for them also who shall believe on me 
through their word ; that they may all be one, as 
thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also 
may be one in us ; that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me." Here it is clearly implied, that if 
those who believe, through the word, were one, the 
tendency would be to induce the world to believe. 
Nor is this any more clearly implied than the oppo- 
site, viz. : that the lack of union among believers, 
leads to unbelief. How vain and imaginative the 
thought, that the existing parties of our times, will 
ever be instrumental in the hand of God, in convert- 
ing the world, when the structure of their own organi- 
zation, in itself, has a continual tendency to infidelity. 
Are we told that such is an ungenerous charge ? Well, 
who can avoid it? The language of the Lord, just 



360 BOOK Otf GEMS. 

quoted, clearly implies that the faith of the world 
depends on the unity of believers ; and we all admit, 
that the world cannot be converted without faith, for 
" without faith it is impossible to please God ; for 
they that would come to him must believe that he is, 
and that he is a re warder of them who diligently seek 
him." The matter is too clear to be misunderstood. 
The Lord saw that the world would not believe, till 
his people were one; hence, he prayed that they 
might be one, that the world might believe. 

JSTeed we pray for the conversion of the world ? need 
we send missionaries to convince the pagan nations ? 
need we print and circulate bibles ? need we build 
churches, and preach with the zeal of apostles, in all 
the length and breadth of the land ? I say, need we 
do all this, thinking to convert the world, .while we 
maintain our own unhallowed divisions among believ- 
ers ? And, if we do, what evidence have we that the 
object we have in view will ever be attained ? Not the 
least in the world ; for so long as the Lord prays that 
we may be one — that the world may believe — we need 
not expect the world to believe, while we are not one. 

It is true, we may convince, convert and save some, 
under the most disadvantageous circumstances ; but 
what is this, compared with the world believing or 
being converted? It is only a drop to the ocean. 
Why not, then, come back to this great obstacle, and 
remove it, that the conquests of righteousness and 
grace may extend over the earth ? 

It is confessed by all, in our time, that the Lord's 
people are a spiritual people, and if any have not 
the Spirit of Christ, they are none of his. All are 
aware, too, that carnality is the opposite of spiritu- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 361 

ality. What, then, is an evidence of carnality? I. 
Cor. iii. 3, Paul asserts : " For ye are carnal." What 
reason does he give for this assertion ? " For," says 
he, " whereas there is among you envying, and strife, 
and divisions ; are ye not carnal, and walk as men ?" 
He here alludes to their divisions, as an evidence of 
their carnality, or want of spirituality. But he argues 
the case further, as follows : " For while one saith, I 
am of Paul ; and another, I am of Appollos ; are ye 
not carnal?" He here continues the charge, that their 
following different leaders is an evidence of their car- 
nality. It should be kept in mind, too, that the divis- 
ions among the Corinthians were of the mildest form. 
If they could not be justified by the apostle, none 
since his time could be, for none less offensive have 
ever existed. If the Corinthian church, then, deserved 
the charge of carnality, as they certainly did, how 
will the parties of our times escape the same charge ? 

Now, let reason ask — let righteousness ask — let 
every thing great and good ask : Can the believers 
now on earth, sincerely, devoutly and fervently, pray 
and labor for the conversion of the world, to the Lord 
Jesus, in this state of carnality? It is alleged that 
carnality, or the absence of the Spirit of God in the 
hearts of believers, is not the cause of division ? Then 
who are they that separate themselves f Let the 
Scripture answer : " These be they who separate 
themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." There is 
no higher nor surer evidence of sensuality, carnality, 
and the absence of the Spirit of the Lord, than divis- 
ion among the professed followers of Christ. 

While this evil exists among the believers, can we 
pray in faith for the conversion of the world ? Can 



362 BOOK OF GEMS. 

carnal professors, in the absence of the Spirit of the 
Lord, without a sufficiency of the love of Christ, to 
fellowship but a small portion of those for whom 
Christ died, and who profess to love and serve him, 
hope that God will make them instrumental in con- 
verting the world ? No, we need not natter ourselves 
with the fond conceit, that anything like general 
saving influence will ever be felt by the world, until 
those for whom Jesus prayed are one. The meek and 
lowly Spirit of the Lord is displaced by the proud 
and fierce spirit of the partisan. The lovely and in- 
viting character of the first church has disappeared 
and in its stead we have the inducements of gorgeous 
worldly and fleshly establishments. In the place of 
even being truly turned from sin to righteousness — 
from the power of Satan to God — we have conversions 
that merely consist in opposing all creeds and parties 
but the one into which the converts happen to fall, 
while they frequently love the Lord no better than 
before their conversion. In the place of that univer- 
sal philanthropy exhibited by our Lord's death, for 
the whole world, such converts are merely filled with 
party bigotry, which dislikes — yes, even liates — every 
body not of the " same faith and order." Under the 
influence of such religion, people live near each other, 
see each other every day — yet associate not, nor allow 
their children to associate, nor even worship the Lord 
their, God in the same house. And why this careful 
separation? They differ in faith! What difference? 
Well, they cannot tell exactly, but the learned doctor 
who sermonizes for them, knows the difference. Go to 
him, and he will explain it to you. This is no ex- 
treme case. Nine-tenths of the members of churches 



BOOK OF GEMS. 363 

cannot tell the difference between their own church 
and another. Yet, it is so great, that they cannot 
fellowship the other. 



-♦»■ ■++- 



DANCING IS A HEALTHFUL EXERCISE. 



^0 make serious reply to this deceitful, deceptive 
and empty pretence, is a little hard to do. To see 
a person who can not go three squares to the 
house of God on foot, especially if it should be a little 
unpleasant, who can dance till midnight, " for amuse- 
ment," speaking of its "being healthful, is ridiculous 
in the extreme. It may he, for anything we know, 
that for any person who has become so useless as to 
sit, day after day, and not move enough to circulate 
their blood, dancing would prove healthful. But there 
are a thousand things better for them. A visit to the 
sick, to the poor and the distressed, with something for 
their necessities, would be vastly better for both soul 
and body. Almost any kind of useful labor would be 
more healthful, and leave vastly less remorse of con- 
science. But if a person has such an aversion to labor 
to visiting the sick, the poor and needy, or doing any- 
thing useful, they deserve no health, and the world 
will only be the better off when they are out of it. 
More health, permanent happiness and real enjoyment 
are found in an industrious and useful life than all the 



364 BOOK OF GEMS. 

seekers of pleasure ever knew. The man of useful 
life has no time for pleasure and amusement. His 
time is taken up, wholly taken up, and he is so happy 
in it, that it appears short, in constant acts of useful- 
ness. But pleasure-seekers are constantly devising 
how to while away time, to pass it off or murder it. 
Time appears the greatest burthen they have, through 
their whole life, and, at death, the trouble is, that they 
have not more time. The good man appears pressed 
through life to do the good he desires to do, but when 
death comes, his work is done, well done, and he dies 
in hope of hearing the Lord say, " Well done, good 
and faithful servant;" enter thou into the joys of thy 
Lord." 



PRAYER. 



HERE is nothing in Scripture called " family wor- 
ship," and yet what we mean by that expression, 
is the oldest worship in the world. Holy men in 
every age worshipped God in the family. But the time 
and manner of conducting it, is left to the sense of 
propriety, and discretion of the head of the family. 
Paul says : " I will therefore, that men pray every- 
where." 1 Tim. ii. 8. He also speaks of remember- 
ing the brethren in his prayers, night and day. He 
could not do this, without praying "night and day." 
The Lord went out into a mountain and continued in 



BOOK OF GEMS. 365 

prayer all night. Luke vi. 12. The first disciples " con- 
tinued with one accord in prayer and supplication." 
Acts i. 14. Cornelius said, " at the ninth hour, I prayed 
in my house." Acts x. 30. This, we presume he got 
from pious Jews, as it was before his conversion to the 
christian faith. "When they prayed the place was 
shaken where they were." Acts iv. 31. These are but 
meager specimens of what the Scriptures say about 
prayer. The history of the first Christians is full of 
prayer. If you wish to know where they prayed you 
only need find where they were, for they were " instant 
in prayer " — " prayed night and day " — " prayed 
always " — " prayed everywhere " — " prayed without 
ceasing." They prayed " on the house-tops," " in the 
house," by the " sea-shore," " in the prison," and " in 
the assembly." They prayed wherever they were. We 
should do the same. 

They spent much more time upon their knees, than 
the professors of religion in our day. The sin that we 
fear is not that brethren do not pray in their families, 
but that they do not pray any place half as much as 
they should. Now if the first Christians prayed 
wherever they were, even when confined in a prison, 
why should any man who wishes to do the will of God 
hesitate to pray in his family ? Can any man show a 
better place, ordinarily, for reading the Scriptures and 
prayer? Can there be any objection to this place? 
Are not christians required to pray everywhere ? Will 
not God hear a christian in his family ? No one doubts 
that it is as suitable and appropriate as any place 
on earth. " Why then, is it not commanded ? " Because 
there are thousands of christians who have neither 
houses or families, and the Lord has left the way open 



366 BOOK OF GEMS. 

so that they can worship God just as acceptably in 
whatever place they may be. as the man who has an 
orderly family and home. The Lord has left the head 
of the family free to determine the appropriate place 
to worship. But woe to that christian who objects to the 
family circle, as a suitable place, and then does not 
worship any place. Bat we never saw a good reason 
and do not believe there is any, against the orderly 
custom of reading a portion of Scripture and praying 
in the family, and we believe that those fathers and 
mothers whose children never heard them pray, will 
most solemnly lament it when they see the Lord Jesus 
at his coming. "Pray without ceasing, rejoice ever- 
more, and in everything give thanks." 



9*- <m 



WE HAVE A PERFECT GOSPEL TO PREACH. 



1 



E claim that the religion of Jesus Christ is a 
complete, perfect and divine system, in itself; 
^ distinct from, superior to, and as high above 
every thing else as heaven is above this earth ; and 
that all who desire to do so, can determine what it is, 
practice it and be christians. We claim that the gos- 
pel is complete, perfect and divine ; distinct from, and 
independent of, everything else, and that he who 
desires it, may know presicely what it is, believe it 
with all the heart, obey it and be saved by it ; other- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 367 

wise the Lord could not be just and good in condemn- 
ing the man who does not believe it, or does not obey 
it. The matter, therefore, with us now is not to deter- 
mine what the truth is, or the gospel ; this we have 
long since settled. We, as a people, know the truth, 
the saving truth, the only saviog truth, as a whole, or 
in its embodiment, or concentrated form, though many 
may not understand it in detail, and the great matter 
now is to practice it, enjoy it and advocate it. God 
intends or purposes it for all mankind, as much as he 
did for us. It is now our duty to make it known 
among all mankind ; or, as Paul expresses it, " to make 
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, 
which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid 
in God, who hath created all things by Jesus Christ ; 
to the intent that now unto the principalities and 
powers in heavenly places, might be known by the 
church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to his 
eternal purpose." 



368 BOOK OY GEMS. 



BIBLE NAMES. 




UT there is one course infallibly safe for us, and 
that is to follow the New Testament phraseology. 
We ought not only to use New Testament names, 
but should pay some regard to the frequency of the 
use of those names. When a man uses the name 
christian more in one half hour than it is used in the 
whole New Testament, it is a clear evidence that there 
is something wrong with him. The same is true of 
the name Disciple, or any other designation found in 
the Scriptures. The man who is truly under Jesus, 
not only uses New Testament designations for the 
people of God, but uses them in the same manner as 
found in Scripture. We never find " Christian church " 
in Scripture. We find no " Disciple church," or " Dis- 
ciples' church," in the New Testament. Such names 
are incongruous. Yet they are current in some sec- 
tions of country. In some parts of Kentucky and 
Indiana you hear of the " Christian church " very fre- 
quently. In the Western Reserve, Ohio, you will hear 
both " Disciple church " and " Disciples' church " very 
frequently. In the New Testament "the church of 
Christ" is found; but "the church of God" much 
more frequently. The members are called Christians, 
Disciples, and frequently only designated "people 
of God," "children of God," "brethren," etc. By 
giving a little attention, we can converse in the same 



BOOK OF GEMS. 369 

way. In nine cases out of ten, we can express our- 
selves in the simple words, " the brethren," "the 
church," etc., and be as perfectly understood as if we 
would adopt the most sectarian designation. 

The adoption of all names unknown to the New Tes- 
tament, is wholly unwarrantable. There is no matter 
of more importance than this. Let us learn to use the 
precise language of the New Testament, and use it in 
the same sense as used there ; and, above all, see to it, 
that we not only call ourselves Christians and Dis- 
ciples, but that we be indeed Christians, Disciples. 



•► ««i 



INDIVIDUALITY AFTER DEATH. 




[(TILL the dead maintain their identity and indi- 
viduality f Is there any clear light on this. 
^ We will not discuss it, but refer to a few evi- 
dences. Fifteen hundred years after Moses died, and 
before any had risen from the dead, he held a conver- 
sation with Jesus in the mountain of tranfiguration. 
He had not lost his identity nor his individuality. He 
did not lose his consciousness. See Matt. xvii. 1-4 ; 
Mark ix. 2-4 ; Luke ix. 28-30. The rich man died, 
and in liades he lifted up his eyes in torment. See 
Luke xvi. 23. He did not lose his identity, individu- 
ality or consciousness. Nor is there any account of 
his existence being such as he had before he was borii, 



370 BOOK OF GEMS. 

JSTor did Lazarus lose his identity, individuality or con- 
sciousness. These men were both identified, conscious, 
and retained their individuality. They were not in 
the same place or state, though both were in liades. 
There was a great gulf between them — the one in 
Abraham's bosom, and the other in tartaros. 

We are not to assume that, because we find soul and 
spirit used interchangeably in some instances, they 
always mean the same, much less that they always 
mean life. When Paul prays that the " whole spirit 
and soul and body be preserved blameless," he does 
not use the words soul and spirit in the same sense, 
any more than he uses the words soul and the body 
in the same sense. He does not use the spirit, soul 
and body, in the same sense, or as meaning the same 
thing, but each having its own meaning. The word 
soul is used with more latitude than the word spirit. 
The word soul is frequently used in the sense of per- 
son, as " the soul that sinneth shall die ;" " eight souls 
were saved in the ark," and other cases. The word 
soul is used in the sense of life, in some instances. 
But it is used synonymously with spirit, in the follow- 
in g: "Are not able to kill the soul." Matt. x. 28. 
Man can kill the body and the natural life, but the 
soul or spirit, man can not kill. The living being that 
dwells in the body, or the " inner man," does not die 
when the body dies. This " inner man " may be " at 
home in the body, or absent from the body and pres- 
ent with the Lord." This " inner man " may be 
caught away to paradise, in the body or out of the 
body. But we cannot go into the discussion of these 
matters, now. 

We do not receive the idea of men losing their 



BOOK OF GEMS. 371 

identity, individuality or consciousness ; the transmi- 
gration of the soul, or the pre-existence of the soul ; 
nor the atheistic idea that " death is an eternal sleep." 
We can hnd better, and certainly more profitable 
themes than these, on which to dwell, both in our 
meditations, preaching and writing. Let us be careful 
and not get out where the water is too deep — we might 
find it over our heads. 



BELIEF IN THE BIBLE IS INFALLIBLY SAFE. 



TpT is infallibly safe, because no man has ever been 
^ able to show any evil consequences that could pos- 
m sibly follow the believer, upon any hypothesis. 
No man of any reason has ever doubted the safety of 
relying upon the Bible, if it be true. But we go beyond 
this, and declare, without hesitation, that if it were 
possible for it to prove untrue, it is infallibly safe to 
believe and rely upon it. Its moral precepts, to say the 
least, are good as any on earth. Its requirements in 
all our present relations are competent to make us as 
good and happy as we are capable of being in this life. 
And, certainly, if it could possibly prove untrue, the 
belief of it could not endanger our happiness in the 
life to come. Beyond all controversy, he who believes 
and practices the Bible, attains to the highest perfec- 
tion and happiness of which his being is capable in 



372 BOOK OF GEMS. 

this life, and stands as good a chance for happiness in 
the life to come as he who rejects it. And if, in the 
end, the whole conld be shown to be a mistake, no 
man living can show that the believer in the Bible can 
possibly be in danger, in this world or in the world to 
come. No evil consequences can possibly follow the 
believer, in any event. It is strange, if that which is 
infallibly safe, should not prove true. 



• » + m 



REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY. 



OD is unchangeable ; the same yesterday, to-day 
and forever. Jesus, the manifestation of God in 
the flesh, and the exact representation of his 
person, in whom dwells all the fullness of the God- 
head, bodily ; the concentration and embodiment of 
all divine benevolence, goodness and perfection, is un- 
varyingly the same — the constant, the ever blessed 
and merciful philanthropist. Christianity, as set forth 
upon the sacred pages of the New Testament, is but 
the revelation of the mystery from the beginning of 
the world, hid in God who created all things by Jesus 
Christ, but the development of the eternal purpose of 
God, the unfolding of the infinite benevolence, mercy 
and goodness, in a gracious system of pardon, resto- 
ration and final redemption, for all them who obey 
him, through the proclamation of the glorious gospel 



BOOK OF GEMS. 373 

of the blessed God. It was the infinite goodness that 
prompted it, the infinite will that resolved it, the in- 
finite wisdom that devised it, and infinite power that 
executed it. God first purposed the gracious scheme 
of benevolence. He then promised it to Abraham, 
saying, " In thee, and in thy seed, all the nations of 
the earth shall be blessed." He succeeded this promise 
by many clear predictions of the prophets, and divine 
testimonies from their hallowed lips. Yet these things 
were not understood by mortal man. Groat and good 
men believed the promise and the testimonies of the 
prophets, rested in hope and died in faith, without 
understanding; fully appreciating or comprehending 
the full import of the good things to come. Eye had 
not then seen, ear had not heard, nor had it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive the good things God 
had prepared for them that love him. The things now 
revealed in the gospel, had been hid for ages, and not 
made known to the sons of men. Christianity is now 
a mystery explained, a secret revealed — that which 
was hid in God, made known — the purpose of God 
developed — a promise fulfilled according to the Scrip- 
tures of the prophets, and the commandment of the 
everlasting God, made known among all nations for 
the obedience of faith. 



374 BOOK OF GEMS. 



EARNESTLY CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 




^N apostle has thought it needful to enjoin upon 
us, " Earnestly contend for the faith formerly 
delivered to the saints." An old soldier of the 
cross, when about to put off his armor, rejoiced that 
he had fought a good fight, kept the faith and finished 
his course. In the course of his warfare, we are in- 
formed that he disputed " two whole years " in a cer- 
tain school, or contended for the faith. This warfare, 
disputing or contending, is an advocacy, a defence and 
maintainance of the faith once delivered to the saints. 
The first thing, in order to this advocacy, is to ascer- 
tain what the " faith once delivered to the saints " is, 
and the next thing is to advocate it, maintain and de- 
fend it with every power. The faith exists in two 
forms : 1. In its concentrated, embodied, or constitu- 
tional form, as it is presented for the confession of the 
new convert, in a single proposition, that it may be 
received or rejected by either an affirmative or a neg- 
ative answer. 2. In its fully developed or detailed 
form, as we find it spread upon the pages of the chris- 
tian Scriptures. This is the creed of the church by 
which she is governed and guided in all her journey 
through this world. 

The whole of the detailed or fully developed creed, 
so far as its truth or authority is concerned, is in the 
concentrated, embodied or constitutional creed. Indeed 



BOOK OF GEMS. 375 

the whole system of Christianity was in the purpose 
of God, which he purposed in Christ before the 
world, in the promise to Abraham, in the good news 
borne by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, in 
the last commission, in the same sense that it was in 
Christ. But it was not put in due form for mankind 
to confess, receive and place themselves under it. The 
same that was in the " eternal purpose " of God, in the 
promise, in the good news of great joy and in the 
commission, was in the announcement, " This is my 
Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased," in the 
confession of Peter, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of 
the living God," the same that John testified that we 
might believe, when he said, " These things are writ- 
ten that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the 
Son of God," or that God uttered in the mountain 
when he gave him honor and glory, or the same is con- 
tained in any one of these that is contained in "the 
gospel." Any one of these expressions, and many 
others that could be maintained, contain Christianity 
in its concentrated, embodied or constitutional form. 
These all embrace Christ. All Christianity centers in 
him, comes from him and is authorized by him. 
Through the holy witnesses of Jesus, men are made 
acquainted with Christ, convinced that he is a divine 
person, the Son of God and the Savior of the world ; 
and, in the confession, receive him as their only Leader. 
This is simply receiving Christianity in its constitu- 
tional form, without having examined its details or 
knowing what they are. We do not, therefore, read 
Christianity through, sitting in judgment, as we do, a 
merely human composition, noticing every expression 
to see whether it is good or true. When we become 



376 BOOK OF GEMS. 

acquainted with the Author, find him sent from God, 
declared his Son in his resurrection from the dead, di- 
vine and infallible, we place ourselves under him, and 
receive his holy instructions implicitly, only wishing 
to know that they are from him. 

Christianity, therefore, in its embodied, or constitu- 
tional form, embraces Christianity in its details. " The 
faith once delivered to the saints," is simply Christian- 
ity, the complete system as the Lord gave it. All who 
have confessed Christ intelligently, have received Chris- 
tianity, committed themselves to it. This is " the faith," 
that which is to be advocated, maintained and de- 
fended. The man who has received it with the whole 
heart, practices it, and enjoys it, is a christian. The 
requirement of heaven resting upon him is, to earn- 
estly contend for the faith, advocate, maintain and 
defend it. 



• »» ■ < ! 



THIRTY YEARS AGO. 




ill 



E showed from the pulpit, fully thirty years ago, 
that the answer of Peter to the three thousand 
^ on Pentecost, was not the same as the answer 
of Ananias, to Saul, of Tarsus, and the answer to Saul 
was not the same as the answer of Paul, to the Phil- 
ippian jailer, and gave the reason for the difference. 
But that was not a difference between then and now, 
but difference in view of the difference in the condi- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 377 

tions of persons at the same time. The same differ- 
ence is observed now, by all intelligent preachers, 
where they find the difference in the conditions of 
persons. If a man is a believer, they do not com- 
mand him to " believe on the Lord Jesns Christ." If 
he has repented, they do not command him to repent. 
Or, if he has been immersed, they do not command 
him to be immersed ; but to go on and unite with 
others who have been immersed into Christ, and ob- 
serve all things, whatever the Lord has commanded. 
But attention to this is no difference between then 
and now, nor did the preacher, thirty years ago, fail 
to observe this difference, any more than now. On 
the contrary, the preachers then generally understood 
this better than the preachers do now. 

We noticed the articles in question, carefully, to see 
the difference in the condition of things now, demand- 
ing the different treatment, but in vain ; we did not see 
it. The plain state of the case is, that there is no 
general difference, and we now need the same gospel, 
presented in the same manner, as they needed then. 
Preaching always did take better effect, when pre- 
sented in a pleasant manner, than when presented 
in an abrupt and repulsive manner. This we knew 
thirty years ago, as well as we know it now. All 
that can be truthfully said about this, opens the 
way for no change — no new departure. Whatever 
was then true in this respect, is true now. A good 
and acceptable manner in presenting the gospel was 
appreciated then as much as it is now, and was of 
precisely the same value. It was understood then as 
well as it is now, that every improvement in manner 
had its value, and more attention was given to the 



378 BOOK OF GEMS. 

matter then, than now. There was then more sound 
preaching and teaching, than there is now, and less 
that was unsound. 

We need solid and sound men now, faithful and 
true, not to preach something different, bat the same, 
not in a different manner from what we had thirty 
years ago, but in the same manner ; not to undo what 
has been done by the labors of the holy men of the 
past fifty years, many of whom have fallen asleep in 
Jesus, but a few remain to this present ; but to main- 
tain, defend, perpetuate, and transmit it down through 
the ages, to the end of time. We want men that will 
not demoralize the people, specially our young preach- 
ers, by opening the way for something new and dif- 
ferent ; but maintain the same things, and be of the 
same mind, and of the same judgment ; not preparing 
the way for something new, but maintaing and defend- 
ing the old, tried and unquestionable; not getting 
ready for change — new departure — but " preach the 
word " — " continue in the things they have learned, 
and been assured of," and not demoralize our young 
preachers with the idea of being on the wing ; on a 
flight from one thing to another, in some wonderful 
career of progress ; but exhorting them to be " rooted 
and grounded in the truth ;" yes, more, in the " love 
of the truth ;" not only to maintain " sound speech 
that can not be condemned" — " sound words," but the 
very "form of sound words." 



BOOK OF GEMS. 379 



JESUS REVEALED AS THE SAVIOR. 




E turn our eyes to the infant in a manger in Beth- 
lehem, and place them upon the child of prom- 
ise, born according to the divine purpose, to 
whom God had been pointing from the beginning of 
time, who is to be the rise and fall of many nations, 
and the hope of the world, and find that all the divine 
prophets, and holy Seers of olden times, have been 
looking to him ; that the attention of all heaven is 
directed to him, and, that the object now is, to engage 
the attention, enlist the hearts, and center the affec- 
tions of the whole family of man in him who is called 
Jesus. Accordingly, wonders surround him of a stu- 
pendous character, when he is born. Angels of 
heaven appear, exclaiming, " We bring you good 
news of great joy, which shall be to all people. Unto 
you, this day, in the city of David, a Savior is born, 
which is Christ the Lord." After a few incidents con- 
nected with his birth, and up till he is two years of 
age, he passes pretty much without observation, 
through the period of his minority, and the time 
comes for the Lord to make him known to Israel. We 
look and see him approach John the Baptist, demand- 
ing baptism at his hands. The good man knew him 
not as the Messiah, though he knew him as a kinsman, 
and, in humility says, " I have need to be baptized of 
thee, and comest thou to me." The Lord replied, 



380 BOOK OF GEMS. 

" Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becomes us to ful- 
fill all righteousness." With this righteous explana- 
tion, the Baptist, walked by the side of his Lord, not 
knowing him to be his Savior, for he says, " I knew 
him not, but he who sent me to baptize, said, ' On 
whomsoever you see the Holy Spirit descending and 
remaining, that is he.' " Down they enter, hand in 
hand, into the water. The immerser takes his Re- 
deemer in his hands, and lowers him till his person is 
buried in the waters of Jordan, and then gently 
raises him up. As they ascend from the water, they 
lift their eyes and behold the opening heavens, and 
the descending Spirit as it forms a visible appearance, 
and rests upon him whom God would have revealed to 
Israel. At this moment, the Almighty Father spoke 
from heaven, in the audience of the people, announc- 
ing : " This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am 
well pleased." 



BOOK OF GEMS. 381 



CAN NOT A MAN KNOW THAT HE IS A CHRISTIAN ? 



^HE grand question to be solved, in this generation, 
is, whether men can follow the Lord, the only 
Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 
as their only Leader, receive his truth as their only 
guide, his faith as their only faith, his religion as their 
only religion, and "be simply his disciples and no more. 
Is there such a thing in this world as Christianity ? All 
the conflicting parties around us admit that there is. 
Can we determine what it is ? If we can not, no man 
knows whether he is a christian or not. If we can 
determine what Christianity is, then, why not adopt it, 
and nothing else ? Can we determine what the gospel 
is ? If we can not, then, no man knows whether he is 
a believer or not, and knows not whether he will be 
saved or lost. If we can determine what the gospel is 
then, why in the name of reason not preach the gospel 
and nothing else ? If we can not determine what the 
church of Christ is, then no man can determine whether 
he is in the church of Christ or not. If we can deter- 
mine what the church of Christ is, there can be no 
excuse for forming any other church, or belonging to 
any other. 

If we can not determine what Christianity is, we can 
not determine who is near to it, or far from it. If we 
can not determine what the gospel is, we can not de- 
cide who comes near to it. or swerves far from it. If 



382 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the right way can not be known, no man can tell who 
is near the truth and who is far from it. If we can not 
tell which the way to heaven is, we can not tell who is 
near and who is far from it. The world is lost. We 
are enveloped in impenetrable darkness. The light of 
heaven is blown out. Hell has triumphed. All is 
thrown into chaos. An eternal confusion spreads a 
universal reign. Doubt, uncertainty and gloom extend 
over the whole habitable earth. The purpose of God 
has failed, and the malignant purpose of hell has 
triumphed. The hope of all nations is lost. Our 
world is ruined! — Black, fearful and awful despair 
prevail everywhere among men. Is this the condition 
of our world ? Tell us, all you who think that the man 
is a bigot, a simpleton and pretender, who says he can 
know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he 
has sent — that he can know the truth that makes man 
free— that he can know the gospel — that he can know 
Christianity — that he can know that he is a christian — 
that he can know the true church ; tell us, all you who 
despise this man for claiming that he can know all 
this, if you say you cannot know these things, how do 
you know whether you are right or wrong, in the way 
to heaven or hell ? How can you tell, if you know not 
these things, whether you are near right, or far from 
it ? How can you tell anything about it ? 



Book of gems. 383 



EXALTED POSITION OF JESUS. 



'HIS glorious person is the soul of the Bible, the 
center of the whole spiritual system, the attrac- 
tion for all nations, the ruler, not only among the 
saints on earth, but also the armies of heaven. God 
gave him honor and glory, the apostle says, when he 
proclaimed him his Son in the holy mountain. He 
walks at the head of the army of God, the true Israel, 
and among the inhabitants of the earth, proclaiming 
with all authority, both in heaven and on earth, " I 
am the way, the truth and the life ; no man cometh to 
the Father but by me." " I am the resurrection and 
the life " — " I am he who was dead and am alive, and 
behold I live forever and ever" — " I have the keys of 
hell and of death ; I can open, and no man can shut ; 
I can shut, and no man can open " — " I am the bright 
and the morning star, the root and the offspring of 
David " — " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to 
me." "If any man would be my disciple, let him 
take up his cross and follow me." Such are a few of 
the many expressions setting forth the exalted posi- 
tion of the Christian's King and the Christian's Lord. 
When he was coronated in heaven, crowned Lord of 
all, the Almighty Father swore that he should reign 
till all his enemies should be put under his feet — that 
to him every knee should bow, and every tongue 
should confess. Lift up your hearts, all you saints, 



384 BOOK OF GEMS. 

and behold your King ! He is the head of the church. 
Set your affections on him, follow him, and consecrate 
yourselves to him forever more. 



PUBLIC OPINION-INFANT DAMNATION. 

St. Louis, Mo., May 18th, 1874. 
To the Editor of the Globe : 

I will give a reward of fifty dollars to any one who will give the 
name of a Presbyterian minister, who is a member of a Presbytery, 
under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church, of the United States of America, who has, at any time, 
preached the doctrine of infant damnation; and I will give fifty dol- 
lars additional reward, to any one who can point out any article in the 
Confession of Faith or Catechism of this Church, teaching this horrid 
doctrine. As infant damnation has been charged upon Presbyterians 
in an editorial, of recent date, in the Globe, the above reward is offered 
for the proof. That the elect are incapable of sin, is also stated in the 
same editorial, to be a doctrine of the Presbyterian Church. This also 
is untrue. 

W. H. AUGHEY. 

E publish the above to show where the pressure 
comes, and not that we expect any " fifty dol- 
lars reward," for such men as the writer of this, 
always have a loop-hole through which to escape, 
But we will see whether the Presbyterian ministry 
believe " this horrid doctrine." If they do not believe 
the Confession of Faith, they are sailing under false 
colors and their profession is a sham. If they do 
believe their Confession of Faith, we leave the reader 




BOOK OF GEMS. 385 

to judge whether they believe u this horrid doctrine." 
Let us hear the Confession : " God from all eternity 
did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own 
will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes 
to pass ; yet so as thereby neither is God the Author 
of [sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the crea- 
ture, nor is the liberty of contingency of second 
causes taken away, but rather established." Con., 
page 18, God's Eternal Decree, chap. Hi. 

The reader will see nothing about infant damnation 
in that. Very well ; let us see what is in it. This is 
in it — that God did foreordain unchangeably whatever 
comes to pass. There is more than this in it — he did 
this " from all eternity." Now let us hear the Confes- 
sion tell what one of these decrees is : " By the 
decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, 
some men and angels are predestinated unto everlast- 
ing life, and others foreordained to everlasting death." 
Con. page 18. When was this done ? " From all 
eternity." What was it done for ? " For the manifes- 
tation of his glory." What was done? " Some men 
and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and 
others forordained unto everlasting death." That 
makes a plain case of it. 

Let us hear the Confession again : " These angels 
and men thus predestinated and foreordained are par- 
ticularly and unchangeably designed, and their num- 
ber is so certain and definite that it can not be either 
increased or diminished." Con. page 19. This decree 
of predestination and foreordination is particularly 
and unchangeably designed, and the number thus par- 
ticularly and unchangeably designed can not be in- 
creased or diminished. But it will be said that this is 



886 BOOK OF GEMS. 

not said of infants, but of " angels and men." So it 
is. But when was this decreed ? " From all eternity." 
These men " foreordained to everlasting death " were 
thus "particularly and definitely designed" "from all 
eternity." We may not be able to explain precisely 
the meaning of the words " from all eternity," but they 
evidently mean before they were created. Before they 
were born, then, some men were foreordained to ever- 
lasting death. When they were born they were in- 
fants ; yes, infants "particularly and unchangeably 
designed " to everlasting death. Those of these infants 
foreordained, "particularly and unchangeably de- 
signed to everlasting death," who die in infancy are 
lost. Here, then, in the Confession of Faith, which 
Presbyterian ministers profess to believe, is the doc- 
trine of infant damnation — yes, " the horrid doctrine," 
whether they believe it or not. 

But then infant damnation is no worse than the 
damnation of adults who are foreordained to everlast- 
ing death, particularly and unchangeably designed to 
everlasting death, the number so definite that it can be 
neither increased nor diminished. 

Let us hear the Confession again : " Those of man- 
kind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the 
foundation of the world was laid, according to his 
eternal and immutable purpose and the secret counsel 
and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ, 
unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and 
love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or 
perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in 
the creature as conditions or causes moving him 
thereto ; and all to the praise of his glorious grace." 
Con., page 21. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 387 

In view of this, where is the difference whether 
infants or adults ? The decree of God — his design — 
settled the matter before they were born, and made it 
so definite, that the number can neither be increased 
nor diminished, and that, too, without any foresight 
of faith or good works in the creature. The immuta- 
ble decree and design of God has settled the matter, 
and that, too, before time began. The elect can never 
be lost, and the non-elect can never be saved, no mat- 
ter whether infants or adults. To unchangeably fore- 
ordain an infant to everlasting death, is no worse than 
to foreordain a man to everlasting death — design him 
to it before he was created. But we must, since the 
account is opened, administer yet another item or two 
on this matter. " Calvin's Institutes of the Christian 
Religion," is a standard work among Presbyterians, 
and used as a text-book in their theological schools. 
Let us hear from this work, Yol. I. page 166 : " Hence 
appears the perverseness of their disposition to mur- 
mur, because they intentionally suppress the cause of 
condemnation, while they are constrained to acknowl- 
edge it themselves, hoping to excuse themselves by 
charging it upon God. But, though I ever so often 
admit God to be the Author of it, which is perfectly 
correct, yet this does not abolish the guilt impressed 
upon their consciences." 

Calvin here says, to confess that God is the Author 
of sin, which is the cause of condemnation, " is per- 
fectly correct." Let us hear him again : " I confess, 
indeed, that all the descendants of Adam fell, by the 
Divine will, into that miserable condition in which 
they are now involved ; and this is what I asserted 
from the beginning, that we must always return at 



388 BOOK OF GEMS. 

last to the sovereign determination of God's will, the 
canse of which, is hidden in himself," Inst., page 
166. Here Calvin says, "Adam fell by the Divine 
will." Let us here him once more: "If God simply 
foresaw the fates of men, and did not also dispose and 
fix them, by his determination, there would be room 
to agitate the question, whether his providence or 
foresight rendered them at all necessary. But since 
he foresaw future events only in consequence of his 
decree that they should happen, it is useless to con- 
tend about foreknowledge, while it is evident that all 
things come to pass rather by ordination and decree." 
Inst., page 171. 

Here it is argued that God foreknows " only in con- 
sequence of his decree." But we must hear this great 
master in the Presbyterian Israel again : " I inquire 
again how it came to pass that the fall of Adam, inde- 
pendent of any remedy, should involve so many 
nations, with their infant children, in eternal death, 
but because such was the will of God?" Inst., page 
170. Is there any infant damnation in this ? But he 
says, "independent of any remedy." He does so say, 
but for the non-elect there is no remedy. They and 
their infant children are involved in eternal death, 
and that " because such was the will of God." In 
these passages we have it clearly taught that God is 
the Author of sin ; that not only Adam, but many 
nations, with their infant children, are involved in 
eternal death, and that, too, according to the will of 
God, because he willed, designed — decreed it. 

See one more item from the Confession, chap. v. 
sec. 4 : " The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom 
and infinite wisdom and goodness of God, so far man- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 389 

ifest themselves in his providence that it extendeth 
itself to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and 
men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as 
hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bound- 
ing, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in 
a manifest dispensation to his own holy ends.'' It is 
seen from this that the Confession teaches that even 
the providence of God extends not only to the first 
fall, but to all oilier sins of angels of men, and that 
not by a bare permission, but such as has joined with 
it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise 
ordering and governing of them, in a manifest dis- 
pensation to his own holy ends. 

Let us hear the Larger Catechism, page 195 : " They 
who have never heard the gospel, know not Jesus 
Christ, and believe not in him, can not be saved, be 
they never so diligent to frame their lives according 
to the light of nature or the laws of that religion 
which they possess ; neither ^is there salvation in any 
other, but in Christ alone, who is the Savior only of 
his body, the church." What becomes of all those 
who die without remedy, with their infant children ? 
If Presbyterian ministers do not believe this horrible 
doctrine of infant damnation, it is because they do 
not believe their own Confession of Faith, and stand- 
ard works. We can supply them with plenty more 
of the same sort, if there is any demand for it. 



390 BOOK OF GEMS. 



THE WARNING. 



/HE antediluvians would not be warned by the 
preaching of Noah, and suspected nothing till the 
flood came, and swept them all away. The Jews 
in like manner would not be warned by our Lord and 
his apostles, and could not be aroused from their 
apathy and indifference till their devoted city was in- 
vested with armies. So shall it be at the coming of the 
Son of man. Great trials are upon those who intend 
to maintain truth and righteousness. May we be able 
to stand the coming conflict. The love of many is 
growing cold, and those weary of the restraints of 
Christ are coming to the surface. Let us not slumber, 
but watch and strengthen the things that remain and 
are ready to die. Let us hold fast and be faithful, lest 
the trying hour come on us unexpected. Let us sing, 
and sing with the spirit and the understanding : 
" Nearer, my God, to thee." May we find grace to 
stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 391 



HOW THE CAUSE OF REFORMATION WAS 
ADVANCED. 




ITH preachers from the farms, shops, stores, law 
offices, doctors' offices, with a little learning, and 
many almost without it, we carried this cause 
forward, and in defiance of all opposition have tri- 
umphantly planted it in all directions in this and in 
many other countries. The power was not in the men 
but in the truth of God ; the clear and unquestionable 
truth, that could be made plain and reliable to all men, 
and that, too, with very little learning or talent. The 
ground taken was invulnerable, manifestly right. The 
Bible is from God, divine, and admitted by all to be 
right, and there is not a reason in the world for not 
taking and going by it. We have struck down all 
human authorities, human names, and humanism of 
every sort, and restored to the people of this genera- 
tion to a wonderful degree the divine, the supreme and 
absolute authority of the Bible, and are now command- 
ing respect in a remarkable degree, not as a new 
denomination, but as the people of God, called out 
from the world and from Babylon, and planted upon 
the Rock of God. 

The man that runs against this cause and opposes 
it is not simply running against men and opposing 
them, but against God, and must come to nothing. The 
cause is simply right, infallibly right, and nothing 



392 BOOK OF GEMS. 

opposed to it is right. In this view we started in it, 
and have never had a doubt about its correctness and 
supreme authority over everything else in the name of 
religion. In our incipient movements every member 
was a preacher, if not publicly ', privately, and every 
preacher was at work, as opportunity opened the way, 
in private, the social circle, the prayer-meeting, the 
established and regular meeting on the Lord's day for 
the commemoration of the suffering of Jesus, anywhere 
and everywhere, as a sense of propriety dictated on 
all occasions. There were additions at almost every 
meeting, whether for prayer, or on the Lord's day, and 
frequently when there were no meetings. All were 
missionaries, and missionaries all tlie time. Great 
numbers were almost daily added to the church, of 
both men and women. Indeed, many of the sectarian 
priests became obedient to the faith. 

We had discipline in the church — order, and the 
members were looked after ; not only the popular and 
rich, but the afflicted and the poor. All were enlisted 
in the work, and had time to give attention to it. The 
evangelists were self-sacrificing men, seeking the sal- 
vation of the people, and preached in private dwellings, 
school houses, in barns, mills, groves, anywhere and 
everywhere that a few people could be found, who 
would hear the word of the Lord. The people crowded 
out to hear, and, hearing, believed to the salvation of 
their souls. They were of one heart and of one soul. 
The Bible was their book. " Thus saith the Lord " 
was their watchword, and a man that would sneer at 
it would have been regarded as a skeptic. " It is writ- 
ten " would be heard in the preaching and conversa- 
tions. " The chapter and verse " were demanded. It 



BOOK OF GEMS. 393 

was not the novelty of the cause that gave it the vic- 
tory, hut the certainty that it was right — that it was 
from God and of supreme authority — that carried it to 
the hearts of the people. It was not unsupportable 
human schemes and devices that gave it power among 
the people, but the invulnerable nature of the cause 
itself. It was not the polish of classical and plausible 
men that carried it through the country, but the mani- 
fest authority of God in it. 

Jesuits can only excel in being Jesuits ; schemers 
can only excel in scheming ; but " the excellency of the 
power" that pushed this cause through this country 
was not of Jesuits nor schemers, but of God ; the 
preaching of the cross, the wisdom of God and the 
power of God. We knew nothing but Christ and him 
crucified, and went ahead with our plain and unvar- 
nished story of Calvary. God was with us. 



► ■*< 



A PHALANX OF YOUNG MEN. 




GRAND phalanx of younger men, with fine 
education, abundant talent, and as true hearts 
'Y as ever beat, are rallying to the principles, com- 
ing to the rescue, and have set their seal that " God is 
true," and that " the word of God is not bound." Ten 
of these for every one of the old men falling are 
making their appearance. They are rousing up all 
over the country, and new pens are coming to the 



394 BOOK OF GEMS. 

rescue. God is with these young men, dwells in them 
and will hold them up. They are not mercenary men, 
but men of God — men of faith. We could name 
scores of them. They are found in all directions. 
They are reading, working, preaching the gospel and 
bringing sinners to the Lord. These are for the old 
ground — " The Bible and the Bible alone." Many of 
them are now wielding master pens, and are master 
speakers. They are becoming masters of the situa- 
tion. They will walk through the progressive ele- 
ments, like Sampson carrying away the gate-posts, or 
pulling down the pillars of the house. While others 
will become " offended because of the word," these 
will love the word, and all the hallowed principles in- 
volved, more and more, and stand true till the Lord 
comes. They will hear them ringing out the old 
watchwords, " It is written," " Thus saith the Lord," 
etc., etc. They will find a formidable array of these 
— a wall of them that can never be broken down. 

They will find that the great masses of the follow- 
ers of Christ have never been perverted, have never 
departed from their principles, and have not the least 
idea of ever doing so, but intend to stand by them till 
the last. These are the great stamina of the cause. 
A few city people, who read but little, have studied 
but little, and are governed by sound and show, do 
not control in these matters, nor a few rich men. The 
great body of the numbers who are scattered abroad, 
hear good gospel preaching, take the papers, read 
them, and read the Bible, decide the course, tell the 
story. These are not led away by a few glittering 
words, by sound, nor by clerical pretensions. You 
need not read to them your dreamy philosophy, meta- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 395 

physical speculations, distinctions where there are no 
differences, prosing through your long articles of 
twenty to thirty pages ; they will not read all this, 
nor will they believe without reading. They are plain 
and practical people, and must known what they are 
doing. These know the gospel and love it. They 
know the right way of the Lord and will not walk in 
any other way. 

We work in faith, rest in hope, with the strong and 
blessed assurance that this cause will live- and go on 
triumphantly when our part of it shall be finished. 
What we are concerned with, is how to do our part, 
that may still remain, to the best purpose. 



t»" ««• 



BODIES RESURRECTED, NOT SPIRITS. 



^HERE is nothing in the Bible about the resurrec- 
tion of souls or spirits. The resurrection has to 
do with bodies, not souls nor spirits. It was the 
body of Jesus that rose from the dead. It was bodies 
that came forth after Jesus rose and were seen of many. 
Mortal bodies shall be quickened. The resurrection 
has nothing to do with the spirit in the way of raising 
it or making it aline. If man becomes extinct at death 
there is nothing to raise from the dead. Other beings 
might be created, but the words resurrection and crea- 
tion are not of the same meaning. The creation of 



396 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Adam was not the same as raising Lazarus from the 
dead. We use the two words, or find them used in the 
Bible, create and resurrection, to express two distinct 
ideas. If man becomes extinct at death there remains 
no man to raise from the dead. Other persons might 
be created, and there would be no identity to lose, for 
they would not be identical, but others. We need 
plain Bible truth ; the matters of the Bible, and not 
theories about the pre-existence of spirits or the trans- 
migration of souls. The plain truth of the Bible will 
save us; idle speculations will ruin us for this world 
and the world to come. Let us study and preach the 
clear truth of divine revelation and enforce it on our 
race. It is the only hope for all nations, kindreds, 
tongues and peoples of the earth. 



• > ■ <• 



ANOINTING WITH OIL. 



(TOUCHING the " anointing with oil in the name 
of the Lord," we think no literal "anointing 
with oil " is enjoined. The praying for Mm, in 
the Christian dispensation, answers to the " anointing 
with oil," in the old institution. It is simply a figura- 
tive allusion to the anointing, and not the actual use 
of oil. The praying for the sick, in the name of the 
Lord, is tlie anointing. 
The Lord raises sick people up, in numerous in- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 39? 

stances, without any miracle. He may do this now, 
in answer to prayer, when consistent with his will. 
It matters nothing that we can not tell how he does it. 
He can do it. This is enongh. 



\> <• 



GIVING UP PRINCIPLES. 



^HERE is nothing more important for individuals 
or bodies of people than clearly defined and well 
settled principles. To stand the test, and he of 
any importance to the world, the principles of an in- 
dividual or a body of people, must be correct, and of 
vital importance. They should also be clearly defined, 
well understood, and constantly kept in view. It is 
then not only safe, but of the highest importance to 
adhere to them with the most determined pertinacity, 
fixed purpose and inflexible firmness. When princi- 
ples are of the character we have described, it is dan- 
gerous to swerve, shrink or depart from them, in the 
least degree. Adherence — the most strict, rigid and 
determined adherence — to correct, clearly defined and 
settled principles, of a vital character, is indispensa- 
ble to perminence, stability and happiness. If the 
principles thus defined are divine, departure from 
them is apostasy. 

We are not speaking of subtle principles, requiring 
the utmost stretch of intelligence or learning to under- 



398 BOOK OF GEMS. 

stand, or even to perceive them, when clearly set 
forth. There may "be principles of this kind, correct 
ones, too, but we think, never practical. That which 
is practical and vital, is never so subtle as to require 
the utmost stretch of intelligence, either to set it forth 
or understand it. The Bible has its deep things, pro- 
found and wonderful, requiring the utmost stretch of 
human intelligence to set them forth, or understand 
them ; or, it may be, deeper than human intelligence 
can fully fathom, but they are not the practical, and 
if vital in any sense, it is not vital that we should un- 
derstand them. If we could not be Christians, serve, 
or please our heavenly Father, without understanding 
all such, it would certainly put it out of the power of 
the masses, to be acceptable at all. We know this is 
not so. 

In precisely the same way, in nature, there are cer- 
tain things that we must know, or we can not enjoy 
the blessings God has in nature for us. There are cer- 
tain principles in nature that are practical and vital, 
and we must know them and act in continual refer- 
ence to them, or we will come to inevitable ruin. But 
they are not subtle, deep and profound principles, re- 
quiring the utmost stretch of intelligence to set them 
forth or understand them. These lie upon the surface, 
are the first things we come to, and may be easily 
learned, and understood sufficiently for all practical 
purposes. God has wisely arranged, in both nature 
and grace, or in the temporal and spiritual kingdoms, 
so that what we must know may be easily learned, 
thus showing his benevolence in both, and that both 
have marks of the same Authorship. In these mat- 
ters there is no excuse for being misled. In other 



BOOK OF GEMS. 399 

words, if any one is misled, lie must be an easy dupe, 
a willing victim. 

In religion, on the part of the man of faith, certain 
principles are settled, and not to be opened anew, and 
investigated from the foundation, every time any new 
phase may appear. Certain other matters are so self- 
evident, that they need only to be well stated to sat- 
isfy any ordinary mind. These are the matters that 
move the world, and not the abstruse and subtle 
things. They are the matters that carry conviction to 
the mind, settle the understanding, and leave it in a 
state of satisfaction and rest. They call out the re- 
sponse, almost involuntarily, that is so. It does not 
have to be proved again. 

As an illustration : — In a union meeting in which we 
participated, many years ago, and after the discus- 
sions had continued eight days and nights, in which 
some ten parties participated, on the last evening of 
the meeting, a gentleman rose and inquired if he 
might speak, at the same time explaining that he was 
a sceptic. The chairman said that it was no church 
meeting, and if he intended speaking to the point 
before the meeting, he should be heard. Several ex- 
pressed a desire to hear him, and no one objected. 
He said he only intended to say a few words. Point- 
ing to those of us who contended for union on the 
Bible, he said : " If the Bible is true, these men are 
right, for they insist on your taking the Bible and 
going by it. If the Bible is not true, / am right, and 
there is no show at all for the balance of you." That 
is a case that needs no argument. 

Before we belonged to the church, we spent a few 
days in a worthy family. The head of the family 



400 BOOK OF GEMS. 

was a class leader in the M. E. Church, a kind-hearted 
and good man. He was zealous, and desired to benefit 
us religiously, and made sundry attempts to talk 
to us. We knew but little about the matters of which 
he talked, and really did not desire to say enough to 
discover to him how little we did know. But after 
further acquaintance we inquired of him as follows : 
" If a man will take the Scriptures, read them, be- 
lieve them, and do what they require, will he not be 
a Christian ?" With somewhat of an air of surprise, 
he replied: "No; he must have something more 
than that." This "something more than that" was 
the perplexing part. What more could there be than 
the Scriptures require? Then, if there is something 
more than the Scriptures require, how did any man 
find it out f And, still further, what is it ? If it is 
not required in Scripture, how does any man Ttnow 
that it is required at all f Of course we mean on the 
human part, or that which is required of man. When 
we inquire how a man is to obtain a crop of corn, we 
do not mean how he is to make soil, how he is to get 
atmosphere, sunshine, rain, etc., but how he is to per- 
form his part. If the soil has not in it the qualities 
to produce corn ; if the right state of atmosphere is 
not given, the sun does not shine, and the rain does 
not come, he is not to blame. It is useless to preach 
about the properties of the soil, the atmosphere, the 
warm sunshine, the rain, etc., in showing a man how 
to grow corn. On all these matters a man might 
preach philosophically, learnedly and correctly, but 
not another grain of corn would grow, for all his line 
talk. This is not the practical nor the human part. 
But the man must be instructed how to put the ground 



BOOK OF GEMS. 401 

in order, how to plant and cultivate, in showing him 
how to obtain a crop of corn, with the divine blessing, 
but certainly not without %t 4 

First. We have long since settled the question 
about the authority of the Bible. That is no more an 
open question, unless we please, for the sake of argu- 
ment, to look at it as an open question. We* receive 
what the Bible says implicitly, or because the Bible 
says it. 

Second. Then it is the rule, and there is not a rea- 
son in this world for not taking it and going by it. It 
is the rule, the final, the absolute authority. It must 
be received in all things. 

Third. Then the gospel preached by the apostles — 
precisely, no more, no less, no other — must be preached 
by us. What they preached then or in their time 
must be preached now or in our time. 

Fourth. The gospel preached by the apostles was 
precisely what the people were required to believe, in 
their time, and what they did believe to the salvation 
of their souls. This same gospel precisely is what the 
people in our time are required to believe, and what 
they must believe to the salvation of their souls, or 
not be saved at all. 

Fifth. The things commanded to be done in the 
preaching of the gospel by the apostles were the things 
which they did that they might be saved. The same 
things precisely which they were commanded to do, 
and which they did to be saved, are the things now 
commanded to be done by those who believe the gos- 
pel, that they may be saved. These things must be 
done now for precisely the same purpose as they were 
then. 



402 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Sixth. If, with precisely the same faith, the same 
things are done, for the same purpose, the same result 
will follow. No man can give a reason against this 
conclusion. 

Seventh. When persons are turned to the Lord now 
or have become christians, the same instructions im- 
parted to the first Christians should be imparted to 
them, to show them how to serve God and be finally 
saved. If this is not so, then no man can show how 
we are to be guided to the everlasting city. 

We give these as a few of the clear principles from 
which we can not turn away without apostasy and 
utter ruin. These are vital and fundamental matters, 
and no man can infringe on them or treat them with 
indifference without being held in distrust. ISTo man 
will turn round and repudiate all of them at once, but 
those who turn away will depart little by little, intro- 
ducing a little new. leaving a little out, and encroach- 
ing on these principles, first in this and then in that. 
Such men will flounder and think themselves abused 
if we do not think they are perfectly sound. But there 
are some things we can not think. We can not think 
white is black, or that black is white. We can not 
believe without evidence. If men desire us to think 
they are sound they must give us the evidence to prove 
it and we will rejoice to believe it. They can easily 
do this if they are sound. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 403 



MY CHURCH. 




E never say my church. There is no "being on 
earth who has a right to say my church. The 
^ Lord says, Matt. xvi. 18 : " On this rock will I 
build my church." He has a right to say " my church." 
He gave himself for the church. The church belongs 
to him. He sanctified and cleansed it. This church, 
in Scripture, is frequently styled simply " the church," 
and in our conversation about it, in nine cases out of 
ten, we can be understood sufficiently explicitly, if we 
say " the church." We read of " the church in Jeru- 
salem," "the church in Corinth," "the church in 
Rome," " the church in Ephesus," etc. We may say 
" the church in Cincinnati," " the church in Covington," 
" the church in Louisville," u the church in Indianapo- 
lis," etc. It is called in Scripture " the body," " the 
body of Christ," " the church of God," " the church of 
the living God," " the kingdom of God," " the kingdom 
of heaven," " the kingdom of God's dear Son," etc. 
These latter designations refer to " the whole family" 
in the aggregate. This body, or building, or temple, 
is the one of which Solomon's temple was only a type. 
According to Scripture, there is no other church hut 
this. The Spirit of God is in this. The life of Christ 
is in it. God dwells in it. In it is life. Out of it there 
is no life. It does not belong to the members, but they 
belong to it. It does not belong to the preachers, but 
the preachers belong to it. 



404 BOOK OF GEMS. 

We repeat, there is no other church but this accord- 
ing to Scripture. This church originated in Jerusalem 
more than eighteen hundred years ago. It was estab- 
lished in about one week after our Lord ascended into 
heaven. The King was coronated and crowned Lord 
of all. The great High Priest had entered the true 
holy place, not with the blood of slain beasts, but with 
his own blood, to make one offering in the end of the 
ages to purge us forever from our sins. The Spirit of 
God descended, inspired the apostles, and the church 
was established. That is the true church, according 
to Scripture, and there is no other church that has one 
particle of divine authority in it. The Romish Church 
was born hundreds of years too late. There is not a 
trace of a Pope in Scripture, except in prophecy, refer- 
ring to him as the man of sin and son of perdition, 
nor in any other writing for centuries after the found- 
ing of the true church. Nor is there a reference to a 
Roman Catholic. There really was not one in the 
world, much less a Romish Church. For the first three 
centuries there was no church but one, " the church of 
the living God," in existence. All others have come 
into existence since then, and have not one spark of 
authority. 

Does the reader say, " You are not in that church 
yourself? " We are not discussing that question ; but 
if we are not in it the loss will be as great to us as to 
any one else not in it. 

Speaking of this church, or building, Paul says : "I, 
as a wise master-builder, have laid the foundation, and 
other foundation can no man lay than that which is 
laid, which is Jesus Christ." No man of any intelli- 
gence thinks there is but one kingdom of God, or but 



BOOK OF GEMS. 405 

one body of Christ. If we are in that we are in Christ, 
in the Father and in the Son. To be ont of the one 
body, or one kingdom, is to be out of Christ, out of 
the Father and of the Son. There is no union with the 
Father and with the Son, only in the body or in the 
kingdom. 

We have no time to pursue this matter at present, 
but can easily, when we have time, amplify and explain 
to any extent, showing that the principles now only 
briefly sketched, pervade the Scriptures throughout. 
It means something to be in the kingdom of God, as it 
does to be " in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Spirit," " in Christ," " in the Father 
and the Son." It is to be in a state of justification, or 
acceptance with God. 



•»■ ■<• 



THE BIBLE AND BIBLE MEN. 




E have identified our fortune — our all — for this 
world and that which is to come, for time and 
eternity, with the Bible. It is the only revela- 
tion from God, the only guide for a sinful world. 
Christ, who is the only Light of the world, is seen and 
apprehended through the Bible, and in no other way. 
All claims to revelation, separate from the Bible, are 
mere empty pretences, idle and unfounded delusions 
and impostures, deserving to be exposed and banishecl 



406 BOOK OF GEMS. 

from the earth. They, as a general thing, are wicked 
and malicious inventions, aimed to subvert and 
thwart the merciful and benevolent purposes of the 
Bible. The Bible is the only book from God; the 
only book that can be defended ; the only book upon 
which all the pure and holy can unite. Those who 
adhere to the Bible, are happy while they live, and 
happy in death. It is emphatically the book for man. 
We are for it, now and forever, and against all that is 
against it, or subversive of it, either directly or indi- 
rectly. We are for no half way work, no compro- 
mise nor equivocal ground. Let every man be for the 
Bible, or against it ; on the Lord's side, or against 
him ; for Christianity, or nothing ; for heaven, or 
hell. We want no man who stands in doubt. If 
a man can not define his position, so that all can 
tell which side he is on, we have no use for him. 
We count no man whose position is doubtful. All 
men whose position is doubtful, are really on the 
enemy's side, and would surrender any post we have, 
if the opportunity would offer. We are not to be 
gulled by these, nor induced to depend on them. We 
would greatly prefer that they would stand where 
they belong, so that all would know where to find 
them. 

We have identified ourself with Bible men. Their 
cause is our cause, and their God is our God. Their 
work is our work. With them we are enlisted in a 
mighty effort to circulate the Bible as far among the 
nations of the earth as possible. We are proud to 
stand among the men of the Bible, to be enrolled with 
them, and in the enjoyment of their fellowship. The 
prospect before these is brighter now than ever 



BOOK OF GEMS. 407 

before ; their work is going on more triumphantly, 
and success is more certain, than at any former time. 



•► ■«• 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 







INCE this practice of praying for the baptism of 
the Spirit is continued with such pertinacity, we 
have concluded to make a few remarks upon it. 
For the sake of making our remarks the more easily 
apprehended, we will arrange them numerically, as 
follows : 

First. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a mira- 
cle. It does not exist in our day, for miracles are not 
done now, not designed to be, nor of any use if done. 
Miracles can not be done but by the will of God, nor 
can they be suspended, but by his will. He did them 
when they were needed, and suspended them when 
they were not needed. No man can allege that mira- 
cles ought to have been continued in the church, with- 
out alleging that the all-wise God ought to have done 
what he has not done. This is absurd. 

Second. The baptism of the Spirit was seen. Noth- 
ing of the kind occurs now that is seen. Therefore, 
there is now no baptism of the Spirit. 

Third. The baptism of the Spirit was heard. 
Nothing of this kind is heard now. Therefore, there 
is no baptism of the Holy Spirit now. 



408 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Fourth. Cloven, or divided tongues, like as of fire, 
sat upon those baptized with the Spirit. Nothing of 
this kind sat upon those claiming to have been bap- 
tized with the Holy Spirit now. Therefore, none have 
been baptized with the Holy Spirit in our day. 

Fifth. Those baptized with the Holy Spirit, spoke 
with tongues. None claiming to be baptized with the 
Holy Spirit now, speak with tongues. Therefore, 
none now are baptized with the Holy Spirit. 

Sixth. Those baptized with the Holy Spirit proph- 
esied. None claiming to be baptized with the Holy 
Spirit now prophesy. Therefore, none are baptized 
with the Holy Spirit, now. 

Seventh. It is wrong to pray for the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit, because it is a gift that does not belong 
to us. Simon, the sorcerer, asked for a gift that did 
not belong to him, on account of which the Apostle 
said, " Thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of 
iniquity," and instructed him to " pray God, if per- 
haps the thought of his heart might be forgiven 
him." 

Eighth. It is wrong to claim to have the baptism 
of the Spirit, because the claim is as false and delu- 
sive, as to claim to be an Apostle. It is as shallow, 
empty and unfounded as the claims of Mormons. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 409 



SMALL IMPROPRIETIES AND ANNOYANCES. 



IP 



'O pour the wine, or divide it into several cups, 
before thanks, at the Lord's table. We thank 
the Lord for the cup, and not cups. Thanks 
should invariably be given for the one cup, while the 
wine is in the one cup . 

For some one to start and push his way out through 
the assembly while an invitation is pending. This is 
a most manifest impoliteness and disorder. 

For some one that has eat about three dinners at 
once, to doze and nod in time of preaching, and in the 
midst of the exhortation, just when the preacher is 
trying to make an impression, to stretch his limbs, 
gape and crowd up to the pulpit, and get a drink to 
extinguish the fires burning within him. This is ridic- 
ulous. 

To see some great strapping saphead get up in the 
middle of a discourse, and go stamping out, thus in- 
terrupting the whole audience. If these could see 
themselves as oilier s see them, they would be very 
clear of showing themselves, as they frequently do. 

To see a beautiful .young lady sit in time of preach- 
ing, and then stand in time of an invitation, with her 
mouth spread and a broad and supercilious grin upon 
her face. 

To see some fellow draw his watch and snap it at 
the preacher, as he shuts down the case, as much as 
to say, " I consider it is time you would stop." 



410 BOOK OF GEMS. 

To see a lady sit and play with her infant, in time 
of preaching, langh at its little pranks, and try to in- 
duce others around her also to laugh at them. 

To see a ^dy get into a quarrel with her babe, in 
time of preaching ; slap it, jerk it, hold it, and thus 
keep it squalling for about half an hour. If the 
preacher can keep the thread of his discourse, in a 
case of that kind, he is a pretty good preacher. 

To have some man standing near the preacher, in 
time of prayer, chewing an enormous quid of tobacco, 
and about once in half a minute, hear a large spoon- 
ful of the filthy spittle splash upon the floor. 



• ► MB 



ONE IMMERSION. 



'ERTAINX/Y not, but one immersion "into the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit." There is but one immersion com- 
manded in Scripture ; that one is in water, and " into 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit." Peter said, "Can any man forbid water 
that these should not be baptized, who have received 
the Holy Spirit as well as we?" Here the water is 
mentioned as the element in which they were to be 
immersed, and they had already been immersed in the 
Holy Spirit ; and in the next verse we are informed 
that " he commanded them to be immersed in the name 



BOOK OF GEMS. 411 

of the Lord." Tlie immersion in water, then, is the 
one commanded, and the only one. 

The immersion in Spirit is not commanded ; and the 
command, if it existed, to be immersed in Spirit could 
not be obeyed. Suppose the Lord would command any 
one to be immersed in the Spirit, how would he obey ? 
No man ever was commanded to be immersed in the 
Spirit, nor was any man ever commanded to immerse 
any one in the Spirit. Man can not immerse in the 
Spirit. The immersion in water is commanded, and is 
the immersion " into the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," " into Christ," " into 
one body," the initiatory rite into the New Institution. 
Immersion in the Holy Spirit never initiated any one 
into any institution or anything. It was never com 
manded. No man ever administered it. The Lord was 
the only administrator of the baptism of the Spirit. 
It was a promise. It was a miracle. It imparted 
miraculous power. It never occurred except on Pen- 
tecost, and at the house of Cornelius. On Pentecost 
the subjects of it were in Christ before it occurred, and 
at the house of Cornelius they were not in Christ after 
it occurred till they were immersed in water. In both 
instances they spake with tongues and prophesied. 

When Paul wrote the letter to the church in Ephe- 
sus there remained but " one immersion," the one of 
the last commission, connected with salvation, the 
remission of sin, or induction "into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This 
is Paul's " one immersion." It is not " one pouring," 
" one sprinkling," or " three immersions," but " one 
immersion." Three immersions has not one scrap of 
authority in the commission or anywhere else. In the 



412 BOOK OF GEMS. 

same sentence where the apostle has " one body, one 
Spirit, one hope, one faith," he has " one immersion," 
and it wonld be in no more direct violation of his lan- 
guage to talk of three bodies, three Spirits, three hopes, 
three faiths, than of " three immersions." There is no 
method by which the language can be so tortured as 
to get three immersions out of the words, " immersing 
them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit." Such a thing was never thought 
of till the dispute about the Trinity sprung up. This 
dispute originated it. There is not a trace of trine im- 
mersion till more than a hundred years after the apos- 
tles were gone ; till the shallow nonsense of infant sin, 
infant regeneration, infant immersion and infant dam- 
nation were introduced. Here, and not in the Bible, 
the friends of trine immersion go to find it, and here 
they find it among those who taught that infants were 
guilty of original sin and liable to eternal damnation ; 
that infants must be regenerated; that the stain of 
Adam's sin must be washed away ; that this can not 
be done except in baptism, to prepare them for heaven. 
They practiced no infant sprinkling, but infant im- 
mersion, and, in time, trine immersion, or immersed 
them three times. We think some of the Greeks do 
this to the present day. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 413 



INNOVATIONS IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 



T?N reading the history of the church, one is over- 
' E whelmed to see how innovations have crept in and 
eat the vitals out of the church. At every period 
of the church, when there was any vitality in it, any 
spirituality or devotion to God, there has "been a con- 
stant effort on the part of the enemy, through some 
well-meaning, but worldly minded professors of relig- 
ion, to work things into the church, or to work some- 
thing out of it, in the nature of the case calculated to 
corrupt and destroy it. "We must be awake to these 
wily manceuverings and guard against them, or they 
will ruin the great work so well begun and so success- 
fully carried on in our time. The insidious, wily and 
stealthy machinations of the Grecian and Gnostic 
philosophers, did an immense work in corrupting the 
primitive church. Many of these did this, too, with 
the best intentions in the world. They thought it 
would be a grand acquisition to the Christian relig- 
ion, an accomplishment and refinement, to append to 
it philosophy, and require every preacher to be a 
philosopher. These were constantly edging into the 
pure religion of Christ their fine philosophical 
notions, pagan customs and ceremonies, and destroy- 
ing the church whenever they did it. On the other 
hand, learned Judaizers were foisting Judaism into 
the church at every opportunity. Between Judaizers 



414 BOOK OE GEMS. 

on the one hand, and Gnostic philosophers on the 
other, they amalgamated Christianity, Judaism and 
Paganism, and made Romanism. It was easy to 
obtain the idea of infant membership from Judaism, 
the idea of image worship from Paganism, and the 
idea of one true church from Christianity, and thus 
incorporate a system with a membership based in the 
flesh, making all the infants members, without any 
regeneration, under pagan idolatry, in worshipping 
images, and at the same time, with the idea that they 
are the true church. 



THE BIBLE GROUND. 



JOH fifty years, we, as christians, have stood on 
the Bible alone, as a rule of faith and practice. 
Till recently, no difficulty was experienced in re- 
ducing it to practice. For forty years after the 
effort was first made in this country, to return to 
original ground, to the apostolic faith and practice, 
and restore the ancient order of things ; submit to the 
law of the Lord in all things ; we found no difficulty 
of consequence. But on the other hand we realized 
our vantage ground, answered all the cavils of creed- 
mongers, fought our way through, built up churches 
on Christ, set them in order under the law of God, 
and thus were happy in the Lord. No people in this 



BOOK OF GEMS. 415 

country have ever "been as happy and prosperous. All 
worked well. We silenced all opposition. 

But more recently, subtle schemes are on foot to in- 
vent an excuse for something like the traditions of the 
elders among the Jews, substituted for the law of God, 
the unwritten traditions of Rome, that has assumed 
the place of the law of God, or the doctrines and com- 
mandments of men, in our time, embodied in human 
creeds. One man finds a "law of conscience," an- 
other " a law of love," another thinks we are not 
under law, but under grace, but does not notice that 
Paul's law, that we are not under, is the law of Moses, 
and, that Paul's grace, that we are under, embraces 
the " law of Christ ;" the " perfect law of liberty," the 
" law of the Spirit of life." Another man finds a law 
of expediences, more extended than the Jewish Tal- 
mud, or the unwritten traditions of Rome. He soon 
has more opinions than faith, more expedients than 
commandments of God, more charity than law or gos- 
pel, more love for the pious unimmersed than for im- 
mersed believers, more charity than hope. His gospel 
consists largely of tuning-forks, note-books, hymn- 
books, choirs, organs, concerts, festivals, church fairs. 
He is great on themes not in the Bible ; the unwritten 
word ; the traditions of the fathers. These are dead 
weights on the body. They are enemies within, sen- 
sual, not having the Spirit. We must meet them with 
the same arguments that cut our way through secta- 
rianism forty years ago. 

We must rouse the spirit of the glorious pioneer 
men who fought the early battles, cleared away secta- 
rian rubbish, built up churches all over the land and 
set them in order, and never stop till there is an end 



416 BOOK OP GEMS. 

to all the subtleties and sophistries, and all the insid- 
ious devices now subverting "the right way of the 
Lord " and spreading dissension among the children 
of Gfod. We must stop all the loopholes being in- 
vented for the introduction of humanisms, and innova- 
tions of all sorts, put away from among us the corrupt, 
the enemies of the cause, and the worldly, and incul- 
cate the pure teaching of the New Testament among 
all, and live nearer to it than ever. 

We met all this twaddle about a printed hymn- 
book, a meeting-house, etc., not provided for by 
divine legislation, before we were in the Church one 
year, from sectarians, and answered and exploded it. 
Now we have men among us that talk of progress, 
learning and an advanced age, who have advanced 
back, and are trying to build an excuse of the same 
matters for human legislation. They want to supply 
the deficiency in the law of God by human law. 
With them there is no church government in the law 
of God, and, therefore, we must make one. After we 
have governed the churches by the law of God, fifty 
years, they have advanced to the discovery that there 
is no church government in the law of God. What do 
they propose ? To make a church government. There 
is a shorter road than this to sectarianism, and one 
that will be much less trouble, and that is, to go back 
at once to some sect that has set aside the law of God, 
and made one of its own, and adopted it. 'They have 
made as good human laws as we can make, and bet- 
ter, for they are old and experienced hands, and we 
would be but new and bungling beginners. The 
efforts we have seen are mere abortions. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 417 



THE WORK OF THE DISCIPLES. 



,UR heart is enlarged and our spirit is stirred with- 
in ns, when we look at the great opening before 
ns. The Lord has not raised us up, put into our 
hands such immense power, and made us suck a great 
people, without an object. He has a great work for 
the Reformers of the nineteenth century. We, as a 
people, are set for the defence of the gospel. We oc- 
cupy the only ground upon which man can stand and 
successfully do battle with unbelievers, with schis- 
matics of every sort, and maintain the unity of the 
spirit in the bond of peace. We are the only people 
who occupy the proper ground for the evangelization 
and salvation of the world. We have cut ourselves 
loose from every thing but Christ. We present him 
to the world and defend him, both in his divinity and 
humanity, as the ineffably glorious person in whom 
dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We believe 
in him, in all he ever said or did, in his religion, begin- 
ning, middle and ending, and nothing else. We will 
defend him and all he ever said and did. We will 
defend his wordj his doctrine, the whole of it. Our 
work is not to defend our views, our doctrines, or our- 
selves, but to defend our Master and his doctrine. Our 
work is pre-eminently the following : 

First. To convert the world to Christ, put men 
under him as their Leader, Savior and everlasting trust, 
to follow him for evermore. 



418 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Second. To collect from Babylon — spiritual Baby- 
lon — the wandering, bewildered and confused children 
of God, bring them back to their one shepherd, one 
fold, and nnite them in one body nnder Christ, their 
only living head, that their name may be one, that they, 
may be one, as he and his Father are one. 

Third. To defend the faith once delivered to the 
saints, maintain it and spread it throughout the world. 

Fourth. To inculcate piety, humanity, works of 
righteousness— in one word, implicit submission to 
Jesus the Lord in all things. 

This is our work, and this, the Lord being our helper, 
we will do. We are pledged to Jesus, the Christ, to do 
this, for his glory and our good, and, by the grace of 
God, we will do it. We are not our own ; we are the 
Lord's. The work we are in is not our own ; it is the 
Lord's. The Lord our Righteousness is our King. It 
is his will — his bidding that we do this work. He has 
commanded and the worTc must be done. Brethren, see 
to it that the armor is in order, that it is on, properly 
adjusted, and every man at his post. Keep your eyes 
upon our Commander-in-Chief. Whatever he requires 
do it. No matter where he calls you to go, go at his 
bidding. He will bring us off conquerors, and more 
than conquerors. Go not in your own strength, nor in 
your own name, and rely not upon your own wisdom. 
Go in the strength, in the name and wisdom of the 
Lord. " 0, Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that 
trusteth in thee ! " 



BOOK OF GEMS. 419 



NOT TO KEEP COMPANY. 



" But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man 
that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a 
railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner ; witn such an. one no not to 
eat."— 7. Cor. v. 11. 

" Let every man examine himself and so let him eat." — I. Cor. xi. 28. 

HE passage evidently has reference to common 
associating — in visits, ordinary, eating and the 
like. Such a man should not be in the church at 
all, to say nothing about communing. Christians 
should not visit and receive visits from such persons, 
or associate with them, but make them feel keenly the 
smart of being thus low and corrupt. 

The remark of the apostle, "Let a man examine 
himself, and so let him eat," is misapplied almost in- 
variably every time it is quoted. It certainly has no 
reference to examining to determine whether a man is 
worthy to commune or not, for he says, " Let a man 
examine himself, and so let him eat." The examina- 
tion was to precede the eating, and not to decide 
whether he should eat or not. The matter of trouble 
among the Corinthians was not to determine who shall 
eat, but how to eat worthily. They were not to do this 
by coming together and eating a pagan feast, not dis- 
cerning the Lord's death and blood, by partaking of 
the loaf and wine, as the Lord appointed. 

It is not the work of the administrator to tell who 



420 BOOK OF GEMS. 

are communicants, when administering, any more than 
he should tell who should sing, pray, or give thanks. 
The communion was delivered to the church, and we 
are communicants by virtue of being in the church. 
If any are walking disorderly they should be dealt 
with, and not allowed to continue in disorder, but for- 
bidden to commune. The whole church should be 
kept in order and all worship, not at the Lord's table 
only, but in all parts of the worship. The question is 
about who are members of tlie church, and not about 
who shall commune. All the members should com- 
mune, all christians, and there should be no others in 
the church. 



H*— <•- 



EXTENT OF ONE MAN'S INFLUENCE. 



|? VERY preacher that becomes secularized, and 
ceases to employ his energies in behalf of the 
poor, of mercy, of righteousness, of God, is an 
immense loss to the world. There is no calculating 
or estimating the difference in the condition of the 
world, in the day of judgment, all growing out of the 
indolence or indifference of one man, though he might 
see that he was effecting but little in his operations. 
Let any man of reflection select a preacher of but 
humble abilities, who was operating zealously in the 
great cause of truth only twenty years ago, and trace 



BOOK OF GEMS. 421 

the effects winch a finite being can clearly see have 
grown ont of his labors, and he will he astonished to 
see how different the present state of society wonld 
have been, had he relaxed his energies. But, let his 
influence extend twenty years more, and where will 
be its boundaries ? Let it extend one hundred years 
and who could compute it ? But all this may be but 
a drop to the ocean of the vast train of influences 
that would all have been lost by one man failing to 
act his part. With this before us, is it strange that 
God should hold him highly accountable ? 

But this is not the worst case. Let a man of talent, 
influence and energy, fall from his station, and be- 
come an apostate and enemy, let the cause be made 
to bleed and suffer from his want of reputation, while 
he hurls back his javelins with all the malice and 
fury of the Prince of the bottomless pit ; and then 
compute the change made in the condition of the 
church and the world ? No one, short of the Infinite 
Being Himself, can compute the vast number that will 
be seriously injured, in one century, by such a miser- 
able being. Who, then, can tell the difference his 
conduct can make in the condition of the world, at 
the adjudication of all things ? Let preachers, then, 
remember that they are laborers together, and that 
no one can be lost without an injury to all. 



422 BOOK OF GEMS. 



PULPITS. 




E have, in our own mind, long since repudiated 
pulpits entirely, as a useless, and worse than 

^p 7 useless appendage. No work done, that we 
know of, with the idea of usefulness, more completely 
misses its aim than that of erecting pulpits in which 
for men to stand to preach the gospel of Christ. We 
have, for a long time, utterly refused to go into many 
of the castles we find around the country. In many 
houses the preacher is hoisted high in a pulpit, from 
twenty to thirty feet from the nearest person to him, 
and many of his hearers fifty and sixty feet off. This 
is all as irrational as it can be. If there had been a 
special study how to defeat the preacher, no better 
method than this could have been invented. 

In a large house, there should be a platform some 
fifteen feet square and sixteen inches high, with a 
small table, the height of a common table, for a Bible 
and hymn book, which the preacher could set in front 
of him, if he desire it, or if not, set back against the 
wall. There should also be a few chairs on or about 
the platform for speakers, where there are several, or 
for persons hard of hearing. The speaker can then 
advance forward near enough to the people to address 
them effectively, and they can see him from head to 
foot. The floor of the house should rise some twelve 
inches in twenty feet. If the house is crowded, per- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 423, 

sons can then Ibe seated all round the speaker, leaving 
him simply room to stand. There should be two bril- 
liant lights back of him, near the wall, elevated a lit- 
tle above his head, and some ten feet apart, so as to 
shine down each side of him into the book before him. 
If the speaker desire to stand back near the wall, he 
can then do so ; or if he prefers, as we certainly do, to 
stand on the front of the platform, he can have the 
privilege, and have room to walk about a little, which 
is both a relief to the speaker and audience. 

If the house is small, the platform should not be 
more than ten feet square and eight inches high. 



• > * m 



WHY INFIDELS OPPOSE THE BIBLE. 



J ^EITHER Joseph Barker, nor any other man on 
the continent can give one good reason for his 
y hatred of the Bible, or desire to ridicule it. 
Suppose it were all he says of it ; superstition or 
what not; why is he so enraged at it? What is 
it that exasperates him so? What is it that puts 
such men to so much trouble? We suppose the 
stories of witches, ghosts, etc., the signs of the 
zodiac, the moon, etc., etc., are superstitions, but they 
do not trouble us, and we do not think it worth while 
to war upon them. Why do not modern sceptics put 
the Scriptures down on the same list with these, give 



424 BOOK OF GEMS. 

tliem tlie go-by, and be at no more trouble about 
them ? Ah, why not? Simply because they can not. 
They have within them spirits that can not rest. The 
Bible is a book they can not let alone. It will not let 
them alone. It follows them by day, and thunders in 
their ears at night. It is before them when thev rise 
up and when they lie down. It is before them in pub- 
lic and in private. It alarms them with the terrible 
announcement that the dead shall be raised, that the 
world shall be judged in righteousness, and that the 
Lord shall render to every man according as his work 
shall be. It annoys them with terrible threatenings, 
fearful punishments and righteous retributions. It 
follows them with the only impartial history the 
world ever had, spreading out alike the good and the 
bad, and showing up the entire history of man. 

Why do they not let the Bible alone ? If it is only 
a fable, a legend, or mere fiction, why trouble about 
it ? " Let it alone /" says the sceptic, " how can I let 
it alone, when it constantly tells me of every sin I 
ever committed, describes even the thoughts of my 
heart, and exposes every wicked desire I ever had ? 
I can not let a book alone that describes and pub- 
lishes me to the world as a sinner." What of all 
that, if you do not believe it ? There is the trouble. 
The apprehension that it may be true, after all, hangs 
about men. They may rant, ridicule, defy, scoff and 
laugh, but the fearful apprehension still rises, thun- 
dering, " It may be true, after all." There is no get- 
ting rid of the fearful apprehensions, the wonderful 
forebodings, the consciousness that all scepticism 
might be a mistake, after all. They know they have 
nothing settled, nothing established, no fixed princi- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 425 

pies, no certain knowledge. They know that they 
are acquiring no substantial knowledge. Their work 
has not been to settle any thing, to fix any thing. 
They are drifting about, floating in an uncertain cur- 
rent, not knowing whither they are going. With 
them, all is in doubt, uncertainty, and obscurity. 
They are completely unsettled, wandering in the dark, 
and without a resting place. They are poor and mis- 
erable, blind and naked. They have no encourage- 
ment, no support, and no promise, and nothing to 
promise anybody else. Their pursuit is an empty 
chase, without any promise or hope. There is not a 
more vain and empty bubble in this world, than that 
pursued by these men. They are working without an 
object. They know not what they are aiming at. 
Their work is not to prove any thing, to settle any 
thing, or establish any thing ; but to unsettle, con- 
fuse and throw into doubt. What have they done 
for the world? What do they propose to do for 
man ? Nothing, only to pull down religion, do away 
with the church, and put the Bible out of the world ! 
They appear to think that the principal thing now 
required to do, for the happiness of the world, is to 
rid it of all religion. But where is the evidence that 
they are doing any good? Where have they made 
the people happy ? Where have they done any good ? 
What good are they now doing? None under the 
shining sun. 



426 BOOK OF GEMS. 



MIRACLES. 




HAT is a miracle ? A miracle is not, as Hume 
defined it, " something contrary to the laws of 
*f nature" but something above the laws of na- 
ture, or something that the laws of nature, in their 
legitimate and ordinary operations, could not pro- 
duce. For instance, the laws of nature, in their legiti- 
mate and ordinary operations, from parents, can 
produce offspring, and bring them to manhood and 
womanhood. But the laws of nature, in their legiti- 
mate course of operation, never produced a man and a 
woman, without parents, or never brought into exist- 
ence a man and a woman, at sufficient maturity to 
care for themselves and live, without parents. ~No 
law of nature, in its legitimate and ordinary course of 
operation, brought Adam and Eve into existence, at 
maturity, and without parents. In other words, no 
law or laws of nature, in their legitimate and ordi- 
nary operation, ever began the human race. In the 
plainest terms, no law of nature ever produced a 
human being without parents. In other words, it is 
not a miracle for children to come from parents, but it 
was a miracle to create the first human pair. All 
who admit that the human race ever had a beginning, 
must admit that it began by miracle. It is not a mir- 
acle for an oak to produce an acorn, nor for an acorn 
to produce an oak ; but it is a miracle to produce an 



BOOK OF GEMS. 427 

oak without an acorn, and equally a miracle to pro- 
duce an acorn without an oak. The laws of nature, 
in the legitimate and ordinary course of their opera- 
tion, never produced an acorn without an oak, or an 
oak without an acorn. The first acorn, or the first 
oak, was, unquestionably, a miracle. The first man 
was a miracle. The second man, the Lord from 
heaven, was a miracle. Isaac, the child of promise, 
and the only son of Abraham, as Jesus was the child 
of promise, and the only begotten of the Father, was 
a miracle. To sum all up, and express it in one sen- 
tence, everything, — every species of animal, insect 
and vegetable, began by miracle. The laws of nature 
create nothing, give us no new species or kind, but sim- 
ply propagate and perpetuate that which was given by 
miracle at first. By the established laws of nature, 
the human race have been propagated and perpet- 
uated, but the human race had its commencement in 
miracle. 

The laws of nature never raised a man from the 
dead, instantaneously gave hearing to the deaf, speech 
to the dumb, or sight to the blind. No laws of nature 
can heal a leper in an instant, multiply " five loaves 
and a few small fishes," till the amount will be suffi- 
cient to feed five thousand persons, leaving " twelve 
baskets full of fragments," or enable men to speak in 
some fifteen or seventeen languages, never studied or 
learned in the ordinary way. A miracle may suspend 
laws of nature for the time being, do something above 
them, or something that they never perform ; but to 
be a miracle at all, something must be done above all 
human art, device or ability, and something which we 
know the laws of nature, in their legitimate course, 



428 BOOK OF GEMS. 

aud ordinary operation, never perform. When any- 
thing of this kind occurs, we know that it could not 
have taken place without foreign and direct interpo- 
sition. This is a miracle ; it is above and superior to 
all human art or device ; above and superior to any 
thing ever done by the laws of nature, as well as dif- 
ferent from anything they ever do. 



► ■«• 



"AFFIRMATIVE GOSPEL." 



i 



E heard an illusion to the fanciful idea that some 
have conceived of preaching an " affirmative 
^ gospel," or, as some have expressed it, " preach- 
ing the gospel affirmatively" or, as we suppose, to 
come a little nearer their idea, merely to preach, main- 
tain and defend the truth affirmatively, and let the 
negative alone ; or still, if possible, to be more fully 
understood, to preach truth and not preach against 
what is not truth ; to preach what is to be done and 
not what is not to be done. Look at the following 
Psalm I. : 

1. " Happy is the man that walks not in the coun- 
sel of the ungodly. 

2. " Nor stands in the way of sinners." 

3. " Nor sits in the seat of the scornful." 

These three items are negative — things that the man 



BOOK OF GEMS. 429 

whom the Lord pronounces happy, does not. This is 
not leaving the negative part out, but inserting it first, 
and pronounces the man happy that does not these 
things. 

In contrast, the Psalmist of Israel proceeds to give 
us the following, which is affirmative : 

1. "His delight is in the law of the Lord." 

2. " In his law he meditates day and night." 

The Lord gives the following guarantee to those who 
do not say the negative part, but do the affirmative : 

" He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of 
water, that brings forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf 
also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall 
prosper." 

What an awful contrast with this is the ungodly : 

"The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff 
which the wind drives away.- Therefore the ungodly 
shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the con- 
gregations of the righteous." 

To this the Lord adds the following conclusion : 

"The Lord knows the way of the righteous," or 
approves it, " but the way of the ungodly shall perish." 

The negative is to be preached and taught in all 
that pertains to preaching and teaching as zealously 
and faithfully as the affirmative, and is to be regarded 
equally as much of divine authority. The first com- 
mandment the Lord ever gave to a human being was 
negative. It was in these words : " You may not eat 
of it." This was negative — what must not be done. 
The Bible abounds with this negative teaching, setting 
forth what may not be done. Look at the following 
list, gathered from I. Cor. xiii. 4-8, setting forth affirm- 
atively and negatively, or what love will and will 



430 BOOK OF GEMS. 

not do. First look at the affirmative side, or what love 
will do : 

1. It suffers long. 

2. It is kind. 

3. It rejoices in the truth. 

4. It bears all things. 

5. It believes all things. 

6. It hopes all things. 

7. Endures all things. 

This is the affirmative side, or what love will do ; but 
the divine authority does not stop at that, but tells us 
what love will not do. See the following : 

1. It is not envious. 

2. Vaunts not itself. 

3. Is not puffed up. 

4. Does not behave itself unseemingly. 

5. Seeks not her own. 

6. Is not easily provoked. 

7. Thinks no evil. 

8. Rejoices not in iniquity. 

9. Never fails. 

The negative is longer than the affirmative in this 
enumeration. 

The man with his affirmative gospel is like the man 
with his two oars, faith and works, to his skiff. He 
pulled one alone for a time, and run round and round 
one way, and then pulled the other, and run round 
and round the other way, and then seized both and 
pulled them at the same time, when his skiff moved 
straight ahead beautifully. We must take the whole 
of the divine teaching, the affirmative and negative ; 
what we are to believe, and what we are not to be- 
lieve ; what we are to do, and what we are not to do. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 431 

We are to show not only what is truth, but what is 
not truth ; what is of divine authority, but what is 
not of divine authority. 

Had some of our amrmative gospel men been in the 
place of Paul, when he came to Athens, they would 
have made no attack on the altar with the inscription : 
" To the Unknown God," but would have gone on 
with their amrmative gospel. Paul was not of that 
type of preacher, but brought their view of the un- 
known God into direct contrast with the revelation of 
the true God — the Jehovah. He admits that their was 
to them an " unknown God," — " God who made the 
world, and all things therein " — u Lord of heaven and 
earth," and who " dwells not in temples made with 
men's hands," and " is not worshipped with men's 
hands, as though he needs anything, seeing that he 
gives to all life, and breath, and all things, and has 
made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all 
the face of the earth, and has determined before the 
times appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ; 
that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might 
feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from 
every one of us." 

Not content with this attack on their altar, and the 
inscription on it, he proceeds to quote and turn their 
own poets against them : " Certain of your own poets 
have said, ' For we are also his offspring.' " Hear 
him as he proceeds, and see how he wades into their 
ignorance and superstition, and, above all, how utter- 
ly exclusive he is : " For as much then, as we are the 
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the God- 
head is like gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art 
and man's device." 



432 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Now for the charitable part of his discourse : " And 
the times of this ignorance God winked at ; but now 
conunandeth all men everywhere to repent." "The 
times of this ignorance " was before the gospel came, 
and the " now," brought in contrast with it, is since 
the gospel has come. Seeing that the light has come, 
men are inexcusable to be in ignorance. 

He proceeds to give a reason for the commandment, 
" to all men everywhere to repent," in the following 
words : " Because he has appointed a day, in the 
which he will judge the world in righteousness by 
that man whom he has ordained." But he knew that 
some man might call that in question, when he closed 
up with the following : " Whereof he has given as- 
surance to all men in that he has raised him from the 
dead." That is, he has given assurance to all men, by 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that 
he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man 
whom he has ordained. The logic runs thus: As 
he raised Christ from the dead, he will judge the 
world ; and as he will judge the world, all men, every- 
where, are commanded to repent, in view of the judg- 
ment. 

The inscriptions to the unknown God must be set 
aside, with all the doctrines and commandments of 
men ; the traditions of Jewish rabbis and Romish 
priests, with all the unauthorized lumber of Protes- 
tants, and the devotees to each and all of them, must 
be shown that they are unauthorized, and the man 
who shuns to do this, only does half work, or rather, 
only half does his work, and will be responsible to 
the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 433 



HOUSEHOLD BAPTISMS. 



T?T is claimed that whole households were baptized, 
^1 and that these must have included infants ; as, for 
I instance, the following : 

1. Lydia and her house. All that is said of Lydia 
is found in two verses, Acts xvi. 14, 15, and the pas- 
sage contains not one word about an infant, or a child 
of any sort. It is stated that " she was baptized and 
her household." But it is not stated that she was a 
married woman, that she had any children, much less 
that she had any infants ; and, therefore, there is noth- 
ing here about any infant baptism. 

2. The next household mentioned is that of the 
Jailor, Acts xvi. 33. "And they — Paul and Silas — 
spoke unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that 
were in his house. And he took them the same hour 
of the night, and washed their stripes, and was bap- 
tized, he and all his straightway. And when they 
had brought them into his house, he set meat before 
them, and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his 
house." Here are two things stated of these that can 
not be said of infants. They spoke unto him — the 
Jailor — the word of the Lord, and to all that were in 
Ms house. The Jailor rejoiced, believing in God with 
all his house. Here it is asserted of the household that 
they rejoiced, believing in God. The word of the Lord 
was spoken to them, they rejoiced and believed in 
God. This can not be said of infants. 



434 BOOK OF GEMS. 

3. The next case of a household, which we' shall 
mention, is that of Cornelius, Acts xi. 14. Here, how- 
ever, is conclusive evidence that there were no infants, 
for the angel said, " Send men to Joppa, and call for 
Simon, whose surname is Peter ; who shall tell thee 
words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." 
Infants are not told words whereby they are saved. 
Those who practice infant baptism do not tell them 
words whereby they may be saved, and do not believe 
they are saved in or by baptism. 

4. There is but one other household mentioned in 
the New Testament, in connection with baptism. That 
is " the household of Stephanas." I. Cor. i. 16. In the 
same letter we find one thing affirmed of this same 
household that can not be affirmed of infants. " They 
have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints." 
I. Cor. xvi. 15. This is a thing infants can not do. 

There were, then, no infants in these households, 
and nothing particularly strange about that. The 
writer has baptized many households and never bap- 
tized an infant. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 435 



KNOWING AND NOT DOING. 



44 (f^HAT servant who knew his Lord's will, and pre- 
pared not himself, neither did according to his 
will, shall be beaten with many stripes." See 
Lnke xii. 47. From this language there is no escape. 
If the men of whom we speak, say, they are not ser- 
vants, then they will be condemned for refusing to be 
his servants. There can be no middle ground, no neu- 
tral ground. " He who is not for us is against us," 
says the Lord. We are not simply to do some benevo- 
lent deeds favorable to the Lord, or to his cause, but 
we must be on his side, belong to him, be his ; identi- 
fied with him ; one with him, so that his cause is our 
cause, and his will is our will. But to the mystery 
again : How can it be, that a man can love the Savior, 
his people and cause, so as to defend them, give his 
money to aid them, have confidence in them, and be 
pleased with their work ; but decide to stand, in rela- 
tion with their enemies, in the same state with them, 
and not in relation with the Lord and with his people ; 
in the same state with them ? 

What a fearful thing it is to be against the Lord, 
and to encounter his terrible sentence : " Shall be 
beaten with many stripes." Why should a man stand 
in such a condition a single day ? We see not how a 
man could rest for an hour with such a responsibility 
on his soul ! Why should any man not be willing ? 



436 BOOK OF GEMS. 

nay, more, why should he not seek to place himself 
under the guidance of Him who is so wise that he can 
not err, and so good that he will do all things well ? 
What a blessedness for man, that he can have infal- 
lible wisdom to guide him, and almighty power to save 
him! How can it be possible for any well disposed 
man to stand aloof from the Lord and from his divine 
arrangement for our happiness, and trust to his own 
wisdom and his own strength, when he could have the 
wisdom and power of God pledged for his security ? 
Why not come to the Lord ; let his kind hand lead, 
and his gracious providence guide in the way of life 
everlasting. 

There were old men, too old to be on the muster roll, 
and boys too young, the history informs us, who fought 
in the battle of Bunker Hill, in the American Revolu- 
tion. These received much praise for their good will 
to the cause and the service they rendered : but 
they did not belong to the army and received no 
pay. In the same way, we fear, many of these good 
friends that defend the cause and even pay their money 
to support it, will lose their reward, because they have 
never enlisted. They do not belong to tlie army. 

Many such men have noble wives striving to serve 
the Lord, to train their children in the way of right- 
eousnesss and bring them to God. These are dearer to 
them than life. Can they stand out in the ranks of 
the enemy, and see their companions who gave them 
their hearts and hands in their better days, struggling 
to save their precious children, and not stand by their 
side, aiding and encouraging them ? What a respon- 
sibility there is here ! They know their Lord's will, 
and do it not and will be beaten with many stripes ! 



BOOK OF GEMS. 437 

The Lord suffered and died for these. He hung on 
the ignominious cross for them, as well as for us all, 
and poured out his warm heart's-blood to cleanse them 
from sin. All this appeals to them. All the exhorta- 
tions of saints, their prayers, songs, tears and solici- 
tudes appeal to them, by all the tender mercies of God 
and the infinite compassion, to come to the Savior and 
live. If they resist all this, turn their ear away from 
it, and, in the midst of all these entreaties, go down to 
ruin, what an everlasting source of regret it will "be to 
look back and see what was done for them, but all in 
vain ! " Turn you, turn you," says the prophet, " and 
live." "You would not come to me that you might 
have life," says the Lord. " He is not willing that any 
should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 
" The Spirit saj^s, Come, and the bride says, Come, 
and whoever will, let him take of the water of life 
freely." 



438 BOOK OF GEMS. 



THE BIBLE VS. HUMAN CREEDS. 



IpT is admitted on all hands, by all Protestants, that 
^j we should receive nothing more than is contained 

I in the Holy Scriptures. 

It is also admitted, that we should receive nothing 
less than is contained in the Scriptures. 

It is admitted, that the Holy Scriptures must not 
"be altered, but must be received precisely as God 
gave them to the world. 

It is acknowledged that the Christian Scriptures 
constitute a " perfect law of liberty." 

All acknowledge that this perfect law of liberty was 
given by the infallible wisdom of God, and by his un- 
deniable authority. 

Now, the precise opposite of this is true of every 
human creed on earth. For instance, it is admitted — 

That we may receive more than is contained in any 
human creed in the world. 

It is admitted, that we may receive less, or that we 
are not bound to receive everything in any one of 
them. 

It is universally admitted that they may be altered 
and amended. 

It is admitted, that no creed but the Bible, consti- 
tutes a " perfect law of liberty," hence, those who use 
other creeds are frequently altering or amending them. 

It is admitted, that no creed but the Bible, was 
given by the infallible wisdom of God. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 439 

These are undeniable truths, admitted by all Protes- 
tants, as must be seen by the most common observer. 
Now we ask any man in his right mind, how it can be, 
that it is safe to receive a creed, not containing all 
that a christian is bound to receive, containing also 
some things that may be rejected, one that may be 
altered, one admitted not to be a " perfect law," and 
one not given by the wisdom and authority of God ; 
and yet unsafe, to receive as our only creed- that 
Book, containing all that a Christian dare receive, no 
less than he must receive, one that dare not be altered, 
that is " the perfect law of liberty," and was given by 
the wisdom and authority of God ? 



•»» ««• 



GLORYING IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 



'HE Apostle Paul says, " God forbid that I should 
glory, save in the cross of Christ." Why glory 
in the cross ? — or, why not glory in his miracles, 
in his feeding five thousand, his calming the sea, rais- 
ing the dead, opening the eyes of the blind, or giving 
hearing to the deaf ? — or, why not glory in his own 
resurrection, his ascension, coronation, and being 
crowned Lord of all % Because it was not at any of 
these points Peter denied him ; it was not here that he 
was condemned ; it was not here that he suffered — 
that he was put to shame — that he was mocked, de- 



440 BOOK OF GEMS. 

rided and despised. But Paul looks at him when lie 
was on trial, when Peter denied him, when he was 
condemned ; when he was delivered into the hands of 
enemies, despised and degraded ; when he was nailed 
to the cross, crowned with thorns, and buffeted ; when 
all his friends had forsaken him ; when all the angels 
had withdrawn, and the Almighty Father had turned 
his face away — had forsaken him — and he was in his 
blood — in the agonies of death, with the sins of the 
world upon him ; we say, Paul looked upon him here, 
and gloried in him. It was not the cross that he 
gloried in, literally. The expression is metonymical. 
The cross stands for Him who hung upon the cross. 
" God forbid that I should glory, save in him who 
hung upon the cross." We are not to glory in men; 
neither in Paul, Apollos, nor Cephas, but in Christ. 



•> <• 



THE PARDONING POWER IS ONLY IN GOD. 



Tj?N precisely the same way, the appointment in the 
"H case of Naaman, in itself, had no virtue to cure 
I leprosy. If another leper had gone to the place 
the next day, and dipped himself, he would not have 
been healed. Naaman did not go home praising the 
waters of Jordan, nor exulting in his dipping, nor his 
faith, but he said : " Behold, now I know that there 
is no God in all the earth, but in Israel." II. Kings v. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 441 

15. The Lord purposely selected an appointment 
that had not in it, in itself, any curative efficacy, that 
the man might know the cure came directly from God, 
and might believe and put his trust in the God ol 
Israel. The same is true of the appointment for the 
Israelites, bitten of the fiery serpent. The Lord 
wisely selected something that all men would know 
had no efficacy, in itself, to heal the bite of the ser- 
pent, that the glory might be given to God and not to 
the brazen serpent. It is no question about whether 
the Lord could have saved the Israelites in some other 
way. No one doubts that he could. But the ques- 
tion, in this case, is simply about what lie did. The 
people did not heal themselves. Their faith did not 
heal them. Their prayers did not heal them. Their 
looking did not heal them. The brazen serpent did 
not heal them. God healed tliem. When did he do 
it? When they obeyed him. Where did he do it? 
In his own appointment. 

The faith of the army of Joshua did not throw 
down the walls of Jericho. There is nothing in faith, 
in itself, to do a work of this kind. The marching 
round Jericho, did not throw down the walls, nor have 
any tendency to throw them down, if they had con- 
tinued to march round till this time. The blowing of 
the trumpet did not throw down the walls. Nor did 
the shout of the army. God broke down these mas- 
sive walls. When did he do it ? When they obeyed 
him. Where did he do it ? In his appointment. The 
work was just as much of God, as divine and miracu- 
lous, done in this appointment, as if it had been done 
without any appointment at all. The appointment 
was precisely such an one, as to direct the heart of the 



442 BOOK OF GEMS. 

people to God, as the author of the victory. But had 
they refused to march round the walls, shout and 
"blow the trumpet, though they might have prayed till 
now, the Lord would not have answered them nor 
saved them. In all these cases, they might have 
prayed for saving power till they breathed the last 
breath, and no saving power would have come. The 
saving power was promised, but promised in certain 
appointments — not because the Lord could not, but 
because he would not save in any other way, only as 
he had appointed. 

The same is true of saving men in our time. We 
have no dispute about what the Lord can do. The 
only question we have is about what the Lord will do. 
The Lord will do precisely what he has promised, and 
no man in the world can produce one particle of evi- 
dence that he will do anything else, to save any man. 
If the Lord had said, " He that belie veth and prays, 
and is prayed for, shall be saved," every one that 
prays and is prayed for, would be saved. But such, 
it is admitted on all hands, is not the fact. Many 
pray, and are prayed for, who, it is admitted, are not 
saved or pardoned. The Lord's appointment is, " He 
that belie veth, and is baptized, shall be saved." Re- 
pent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of 
Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." " Why tarriest 
thou? arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, 
calling: on the name of the Lord." Here is the Lord's 
appointment, and he who comes here, has the promise 
of the Lord that he shall be saved, or pardoned. This 
appointment is like those we have been looking at. 
It is evident to all, there is no virtue or merit in faith, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 443 

in itself, to save a man. It is equally evident that 
there is no merit or virtue in repentance, in itself, to 
save any one. It must be equally evident to all, that 
there can be no virtue, merit, or efficacy in baptism, in 
itself, to save or pardon. It is God that pardons. 
Who does he pardon ? Those who obey him. When 
does he pardon them? When they obey from the 
heart, that form of doctrine delivered to them. "Being 
then made free from sin, they have their fruit unto 
holiness and the end everlasting life." Where does 
he pardon them ? In his appointments. 



•»> -« ( 



THE ACTION OF BAPTISM. 



^(j) EFERRING to the position of the disciples on 
*\% the action of baptism, a correspondent says: 
^J] " That, in regard to the sacrament of baptism, 
the whole christian world have been in the dark, from 
the earliest history of the church until within three 
hundred years, and much the greater part are still 
behind ! " He adds, " ISTot deceived, be it remembered, 
about some things not essential to the ordinance, but 
in regard to the very nature of it. And what is yet 
more singular, denominations possessing much the 
greater share of learning are most in the dark ! " He 
proceeds, " Nay, even the christian fathers, who were, 
some of them, Greeks, and men of learning, and who 



444 BOOK OF GEMS. 

certainly should have known something about their 
own language, were in serious error upon this very 
subject! " 

All this is said, by our worthy friend, in reference to 
our position, that nothing but immersion is baptism. 
It contains several items, and to give them all possible 
conspicuity we notice them separately. 

First. His first trouble is about the whole christian 
world being in the dark, if our position is true. This 
expression, " the whole christian world," must be sim- 
mered down a little. We strike out of it, then, all the 
christians of the first two centuries, as not in the dark, 
for they held and practiced nothing but immersion for 
baptism. This is sufficient, if we could say no more. 
But we add to this all Baptists of modern times, who 
have not been in the dark on this point. No fact is 
better authenticated than that for the first thirteen 
centuries immersion was invariably practiced by all 
professed christians, except, after the third century, in 
cases of extreme weakness, where they thought immer- 
sion could not be endured, they decided that affusion 
would do ; but these could never hold office in the 
church. Even the Episcopalian church, in the time of 
Mr. Wesley, almost invariably immersed. Now sum 
up all these, and then decide how large the number in 
the dark, and you will find that the sprinklers are a 
mere drop in the bucket. 

Second. The above shows that they have not pos- 
sessed much the greater share of learning, but much 
the smaller share of learning*. 

Tliird. The christian fathers, so called, are not to be 
entered in that list. They were on the other side, and 
practiced immersion and nothing else. The remark of 



BOOK OF GEMS. 445 

the Cyprian shows that he is defending something new 
and in doubt ; hence his remark that " it is of equal 
validity with the laver of salvation." There was no 
doubt about what he calls " the laver of salvation," 
but there was doubt about sprinkling. The one needed 
argument and the perversion of the passage in Ezekiel 
to support it ; the other was universally acknowledged. 
We admit that the evidence is abundant "that pour- 
ing and sprinkling were used " from the beginning of 
the fourth century not only to the rise of the Anabap- 
tists, but till now; but that pouring and sprinkling 
were held in doubt, in general, and utterly repudiated 
by many, is equally abundantly proved. The discov- 
ery that baptizo means immerse, and nothing else, 
could not have been made by any of the fathers, for 
at that time no one denied that such was its meaning. 
In the few instances whese sprinkling or pouring was 
used, it was not on the ground that baptizo meant 
pour or sprinke, but cm the ground that pouring or 
sprinkling would do in extreme cases of weakness 
where they deemed the persons unable to endure im- 
mersion. No man can produce one scrap of authority 
to show that any man at that early period, or for many 
long centuries after, ever attempted to defend pouring 
or sprinkling on the ground that baptizo meant pour 
or sprinkle. Those who practiced sprinkling or pour- 
ing generally in the early ages, did not think they were 
doing what the Lord commanded, or what the apostles 
practiced, but something else that would do. Luther, 
Calvin, Wesley and Clarke, admitted that the ancient 
practice was immersion, but they thought sprinkling 
or pouring would do. This was the ground of argu- 
ment for many long centuries. The idea of trying to 



446 BOOK OF GEMS. 

prove that any person was ever sprinkled or poured 
upon, for baptism, in the time of the apostles, is a 
mere modern invention, and the idea that baptizo 
means sprinkle or pour, is of equal modern date. These 
are new grounds altogether, taken by modern men, 
who have been driven from the old ground. It will not 
do in our time to admit — as all the ancients did — 
that the apostles immersed — that immersion was the 
ancient practice — that baptizo means immerse, and 
nothing else, but that " this rite has been changed 
somewhat" and that something else will do as well. 
This is too barefaced for our time, and the opposition 
have changed their ground, and are now trying to make 
us believe that their practice is sustained by the mean- 
ing of baptizo and the ancient practice. 



SHORTER CATECHISM FOR UNIVERSALIANS. 



TJRING our discussion in Decatur, HI., we pre- 
sented the following, substantially, as the " Short- 
er Catechism " for Universalians to test their pre- 
tences to a belief in the Scriptures : 

1. Phil. iii. 18, 19, Paul, speaking of the enemies 
of the cross of Christ, says, " Whose end is destruc- 
tion." Can a man of sense believe that the end of a 
man is destruction, and at the same time believe that 
his salvation ? The end of a man will certainly be his 



BOOK OF GEMS. 447 

last state, and if that is destruction, his end can not "be 
salvation. 

2. Mark iii. 29, the Lord says, he who shall blas- 
pheme against the Holy Spirit, " hath never forgive- 
ness." Can a man of sense believe that a man who 
"hath never forgiveness " shall be saved? To save a 
man without forgiveness, would be to save him in Ms 
sins. 

3. John iii. 36, the Lord says, " He that belie veth 
not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
abide th on him." Can a man of sense believe that 
those who believe not the Son, shall not see life, and 
yet believe that they shall see life f 

4. Rev. xxii. 19, the Scriptures say of certain per- 
sons, that " God shall take away their part out of the 
book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the 
things which are written in this book." Can a man 
of sense believe that a man whose "part is taken out 
of the took of life, and out of the holy city, and 
from the things which are written in this book" can 
be saved? 

5. Heb. xii. 15, the Scriptures speak of men " fail- 
ing of the grace of God." Can a man of sense believe 
that men may "fail of the grace of God," and be 
saved ? What ! saved without the grace of God ? 

6. John viii. 21, the Lord said to certain persons, 
" Ye shall die in your sins ; whither I go ye can not 
come." Can a sensible man believe that men shall 
" die in their sins," and that whither the Lord went 
they could not come, and still believe that all will be 
saved ? Do not refer to what the Lord said to his dis- 
ciples, for he said more than this to them. He said to 
his disciples, "Whither I go, thou canst not follow 



448 BOOK OF GEMS. 

me now ; but thou shalt follow me afterward." John 
xiii. 36. This he did not say to the Jews. But he did 
say to the Jews, " Ye shalt die in yonr sins : whither 
I go ye can not come." Is that true ? It is. Then 
Universalism is not true. 

7. Heb. x. 26 v 27, Paul says, " If we sin wilfully 
after that we have received the knowledge of the 
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but 
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery in- 
dignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Can 
men of sense believe that a man for whom " there re- 
maineth no more sacrifice for sins," but for whom 
their remains "a certain fearful looking for of judg- 
ment and fiery indignation which shall devour the 
adversaries," will be saved ? 

8. John v. 29, the Lord declares that " they who 
have done evil shall come forth to the resurrection of 
damnation." Can a man of sense believe that those 
who have done evil can " come forth to the resurrec- 
tion of damnation," and yet all men be saved ? 

9. Rev. xx. 13-15, we find an account of the dead 
standing before God and being "judged every man 
according to their works," and the declaration is made 
that " whosoever was not found written in the book of 
life, was cast into the lake of fire." Can a man of 
sense believe that the dead shall be raised and judged 
according to their works, and the wicked, or those 
whose names are not written in the book of life, shall 
be cast into the lake of fire, and yet all men be saved ? 

10. Gal. v. 2, Paul testifies to certain men, " Christ 
shall profit you nothing." Can a man of sense believe 
that those shall be saved whom Christ shall profit 
nothing ? 



BOOK OF GEMS. 449 

11. Heb. vi., Paul declares of certain persons, that 
it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. 
Can'a man of sense believe that those can be saved 
whom it is impossible to renew again to repentance ? 

12. Heb. ix. 27, Paul says, " It is appointed unto 
men once to die, but after this the judgment." Can a 
man of sense believe that " it is appointed unto men 
once to die, but after this the judgment" and not be- 
lieve that God will judge men after death ? 

18. Luke xvi. 22, 23, we read of a "certain rich 
man," that " the rich man died, and was buried ; and 
in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." Can 
a man of sense believe that a man after he died and 
was buried, was " in torments," and believe that there 
are no torments after death ? 

14. Matt, xxv., the Lord says of the wicked, " These 
shall go away into everlasting punishment ; but the 
righteous into life eternal." Be it observed, these 
righteous are in the life of a christian already, or before 
they go into life eternal, and the wicked are in all the 
hell there is for them in this world already. But here 
at the time the righteous enter eternal life, the wicked 
enter everlasting punishment. The same Greek word 
aionion, in the same sentence, expresses the duration 
of the life of the righteous and the punishment of 
the wicked. Can a man of sense believe that the Lord 
used aionion in a limited sense in one place and an 
unlimited sense in the other ? 

15. Luke xiii. 23, we are informed that a man in- 
quired of our Lord, " Are there few that be saved?" 
The Lord did not answer his silly question, but said 
to him, " Strive to enter in at the straight gate ; for 
many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall 



450 BOOK OF GEMS. 

not be able." Can a man of sense believe this state- 
ment, that they shall not be able to enter, and still 
believe that all shall enter ? Do not begin to think of 
entering the church here now, for we know that all 
who seek to enter the chiircli are able. 

16. Ez. xiii. 22, the Lord says, " With lies ye have 
made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not 
made sad ; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, 
that he should not return from his wicked way, by 
promising him life." Can a man of sense believe that 
he strengthens the hands of the wicked, that he should 
not return from his wicked way, by promising him life, 
and still believe that he is doing good in preaching 
that all men shall have life ? 

When our Universalist friends get so that they can 
answer these questions and explain the difficulties in- 
volved clearly and satisfactorily, the people may 
become satisfied that they are not sceptics. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 451 



POPULAR AMUSEMENTS. 




Remarks upon a communication complaining of the increasing 
prevalence of revelry, under the plea of " innocent amusements." Pub- 
lished in the A. C. Review, for July, 1860. 

E have no doubt that many professors of relig- 
ion are greatly sinning, as well as disgracing 
and dishonoring their profession, in the man- 
ner above described. But there is one trouble in writ- 
ing or publishing any thing for that class. They 
are beyond the reach of writers. They subscribe for 
no religious publications, pay for none, and read none. 
They read nothing, unless it be some silly love tale, 
book of fashion, or mere novel. They can only be 
reached at all through older, wiser, and better heads, 
and then only occasionally, and but slightly. In most 
instances, the slightest reference to their inconsistent 
lives of folly and vanity, is regarded as a mortal 
offence. We were threatened, not long since, with 
being held personally responsible for alluding to the 
mischief done by dancing masters, in a public dis- 
course. It turned out that one was present, and, as if 
to publish himself as a live dancing master, distin- 
guish himself and render himself as notorious as pos- 
sible, immediately after the allusion to men of his 
calling, he cast his eye around the house, and saw all 
eyes upon him, when he bounced from his seat and 
went stamping out of the house, as if he intended try- 



452 BOOK OY GEMS. 

ing the strength of the floor, every time he set down 
his foot. His profession was too sacred to be alluded 
to without his being insulted. Some of the people, 
we learned, called him Professor ! Talk of preach- 
ing for such men ! of writing to reform them ! They 
would not hear an angel from heaven, unless he would 
wink at their dancing. They would not hear one 
who would rise from the dead, unless he' would wink 
at their sin. If they could, they would lead our fair 
daughters to ruin, chuckle over the feat achieved, and 
dance on the graves of heart-broken fathers and 
mothers. They are leeches upon society, sucking the 
very life's blood from the veins of better people, who 
suffer themselves to be gulled by them, and, at the 
same time, grinning ]ike a weasel while cutting the 
throat of a chicken, and sucking its blood. 

The entire clan of amusement manufacturers, from 
the poor music grinder on the street, up to Barnum, 
are pulling down, discouraging and destroying the 
good built up by the hard toiling and struggles of 
good people. It is useless to talk of their being gen- 
tlemen, polite, or moral ; their work is to pull down, 
to ruin, to destroy, and to sink men and women in 
hell. Their work is against every prayer, every ex- 
hortation and sermon; every Sunday school, church 
and gospel mission. We may preach and pray, toil 
and struggle in tears, with our hearts aching and 
bleeding, trying to save men, and so long as we coun- 
tenance worthless and silly amusements, we shall not 
be successful in saving men. Not only so, but if we 
allow those who are determined to run their length in 
all these amusements, to hang upon us, they will sink 
us all. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 453 



ACTIVITY IN THE MINISTRY. 



,7'HE preacher's life should be one of activity and 
industry, one of enterprise and diligence. The 
preacher can not be a gentleman of leisure. This 
is not his profession. He can not afford an hour or 
two every morning in primping, turning himself first 
this way and then that before a glass, smoothing down 
his hair, stroking his mustache and fitting on his 
attire. He can not afford another half-hour sucking 
an enormous cigar and filling a filthy spittoon, a thing 
that ought to be tolerated in no parlor, or genteel 
society. He should be a man of no idle habits, such 
as lounging upon cushions, loafing on the streets, at 
the corners, in shops, stores or places of business, or 
idleness. He should rise early, unless prevented from 
getting to rest sufficiently early, by preaching at night, 
dress himself out and out for the day in fifteen min- 
utes, and spend at least five hours in his books. This 
should be a regular work, an every day work. Five 
hours only brings him to about ten o'clock in the 
morning, about the proper time to see sick persons, the 
poor, or any whom it may be his duty to visit. Three 
hours can now be devoted in this way. This brings 
him to one o'clock. Allow him two hours to take 
refreshment and rest himself. Now it is three o'clock, 
a good hour for . him again to be among the people, 
where he may frequently spend two hours profitably. 



454 BOOK OF GEMS. 

If the preacher is a man of enterprise, he can have 
an engagement for a sermon, a lecture, a meeting for 
prayer, or something of the kind almost every night, 
either in the church, or some place in a short distance 
in the community, where he may be waking up some 
interest among the people. It is the business of the 
preacher to seek an opportunity for something of this 
kind, and have some work all the time going on round 
him, arresting the attention of the people, rousing 
them from their slumbers, setting them to thinking and 
working. 

It is useless to stand and preach in one pulpit and 
wait for the people to come there, thus depending upon 
that wholly for saving men. We must go beyond that, 
find every nook and corner where a few people can 
be collected and preach the word to them, exhort them, 
persuade them and plead with them to turn to the 
Lord. The preacher must make it an every day work 
to preach. We must get in the way of preaching from 
house to house and from place to place, thus filling the 
whole land with the doctrine of the cross. We must 
be men of activity, perseverance and zeal, not waiting 
for " calls," but penetrating the land from its center to 
its circumference. We must go into the field and do 
the work of the Lord, and the Lord will open the way 
and take care of us. We are anxious to see an army 
of zealous, powerful and enterprising young men, will- 
ing to go out into the world and convince the world of 
their ability and usefulness, by saving men, building 
up churches and extending the cause. In this way, 
they will soon make an opening for themselves and 
secure a permanent field of operation. How much 
more noble and manly this, than looking round for a 



book of gems. 455 

rich church, raised up to hand by the labors of other 
men, where a young man can sit down with a fat sal- 
ary and merely live upon the labors of those who have 
gone before him. 



SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS ON THE ACTION OF 

BAPTISM. 



*pT is a fact that our Lord was baptized of John in 
\ Jordan. Is it then more probable that he was 

I sprinkled of John in Jordan, than that he was im- 
mersed of John in Jordan ? 

It is a fact that after the Lord was baptized "he 
went up straightway out of the watery Is it more 
probable that " he went up straightway out of the 
water," in going from sprinkling, than from immer- 
sion? 

It is a fact that the people were baptized of John in 
the river of Jordan, Is it more probable that they 
were sprinkled of John, in the river of Jordan, than 
that they were immersed in the river of Jordan ? 

It is a fact that " John was baptizing in Enon, near 
Salim, because there was much water there." Is it 
more probable that he sprinkled in a place, because 
there was much water there, than that he immersed in 
a place because there was much water there ? 

It is a fact that Philip and the eunuch, both went 



456 BOOK OF GEMS. 

down into the water, and he "baptized him. Is it more 
probable that they both went down into the water to 
sprinkle, than that they both went down into the 
water to immerse ? 

It is a fact, mentioned by Pan], as a result of bap- 
tizing, that the body is washed. Is it more probable 
that the body is waslied in sprinkling, than that the 
body is washed in immersing ? 

It is a fact, stated by Paul, that " we are buried 
with him in baptism." Is it more probable that we 
are buried with him in sprinkling, than that we are 
buried with him in immersion ? 

It is a fact, stated by Paul, that we are buried with 
him by baptism. Is it more probable that we are 
buried with him by sprinkling, than that we are 
buried with him by immersion ? 

We have now presented eight questions on the 
probabilities of the case. Now for the possibilities of 
the case : 

It is a fact that the Lord was baptized in Jordan, 
and it is a fact that he went up straightway out of 
the water. This shows that when he was in Jordan, 
he was in the water, or he could not have gone " out 
of the water" As a question of fact and possibility, 
could the Lord have been sprinlded in the water ? 

It is a fact, stated by Paul, that in baptizing, or, as 
a result of it, the " body is washed." As a question 
of possibility, can the body be washed, or, as a ques- 
tion of fact, is the body washed at all, when sprink- 
ling is performed in the usual way ? 

It is a fact, stated by the Apostles, that " we are 
buried with him in baptism." As a question of fact, 
is this done in sprinkling? As a question of possi- 
bility, can persons be buried in sprinkling f 



BOOK OF GEMS. 457 

It is a fact, stated in Scripture, that " we are buried 
with him by baptism." As a question of fact, are 
persons buried by sprinkling ? As a question of pos- 
sibility, can persons be buried by sprinkling f 



•*■ <• 



"A MIGHTY GOOD FOUNDATION." 



OME years ago, our Bro. Burnet resided some 
eight miles in the country. We were in Mt. 
Healthy, a short distance from his residence, and 
took an omnibus for the city. In a few minutes the 
omnibus stopped in front of the residence of Bro. 
Burnet, with two respectible looking gentlemen in it, 
one sitting facing the residence and the other with his 
back towards it. The one facing the residence said, 
" Here is where Mr. Burnet resides." The other re- 
plied, " Who is he V " A celebrated Campbellite 
preacher," was the answer. " What do the Campbell- 
ites hold?" inqnired the other. "That the Bible is 
their foundation — their only creed," was the reply. 
" They have a mighty good foundation — a very good 
creed," answered the other. " Yes," was the reply ; 
and here the conversation ended. The same must be 
the response of every honest believer in the Bible. 
It is certainly a good foundation — a good creed. If 
there is any good doctrine, or teaching, as the word 
doctrine means, in the world, it is in the Bible, and 



458 BOOK 0$ GEMS. 

the man who takes the Bible, finds it in his book. If 
there is any sure foundation for all our hopes beyond 
this life, it is found in the Bible. If there is any sure 
lamp to the path of weary and dying pilgrims in this 
world, it is the Bible. All other books are nothing 
compared with the Bible. It is the took of all books, 
the authority of all authorities, the only sure and 
infallible guide from this world of sin to the land of 
rest. 



• »» <m 



A HARD QUESTION FOR PREACHERS. 



'HE Lord said once to a preacher, " Simon, loves t 
thou me more than these ? " This question has 
been variously expounded. It has had at least 
the following three interpretations given to it : 

1. " Lovest thou me more than these other disciples 
love me ? " 

2. "Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these 
other disciples ? " 

3. " Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these 
fisheries ? " 

1. The Archbishop of Cincinnati had the honor — if 
it be any — of giving the people the first of these, in 
the debate with Mr. Campbell. He thinks the Lord 
meant, " Simon, lovest thou me more than these other 
disciples love me ? " He thinks Peter did love his 



BOOK OF GEMS. 459 

Lord more than the other disciples did, and this is one 
of his mighty arguments to prove that Peter was the 
first Pope. But how Peter could answer such a ques- 
tion as that, unless, indeed, he was already the Pope, 
and infallible, we can not conceive. Certainly the 
Lord did not expect Peter to know whether he loved 
his Master better than the other disciples loved him, 
unless he was infallible. The Lord himself could have 
answered that question, but certainly no man could. 
Such a question was not only, in the very nature of 
the case, one that no man could answer, but one that 
could have no practical bearing nor use. JSTot only so, 
but the answer of the Lord was inappropriate, if he 
had intended Peter to be Pope. He commanded him, 
"Feed my sheep." This was the last thing he would 
have commanded him if he had intended him to be 
Pope. In that case he would have commanded him, 
" Fleece my sheep," and not " feed my sheep." The 
business of Popes has ever been to fleece the sheep, 
and not to feed them. 

2. The question, "Lovest thou me more than thou 
lovest these other disciples ? " though Peter might have 
been able to answer it, would certainly have been one 
of but little importance. Not only so, but the lan- 
guage is scarcely capable of this import, and, there- 
fore, it is not probable that such was the intention 
of it. 

3. The sum of the question was, " Lovest thou me 
more than these fisheries?" Or, to express it more 
fully and liberally, " Lovest thou me more than thou 
lovest these fisheries ? " The state of the case was, 
that the Lord had called them to be preachers. They 
had from the beginning been under a mistaken notion. 



460 BOOK OF GEMS. 

• 

Their idea was, that Jesus was to be a king in an earthly 
kingdom. This, they supposed, would all take place 
in his lifetime, on this earth. It never entered into 
their minds that Jesus would die before his reign com- 
menced. It specially never entered into their minds 
that .he would die by crucifixion. When he was cru- 
cified and actually dead, they thought he was defeated, 
that his enemies had triumphed, that all was lost and 
their mission at an end. In this view, Simon Peter 
said, " I go a fishing." Another disciple replied, "I 
go along." This was utterly giving all up for lost. 
Poor men ; like most preachers, who quit their proper 
work of preaching the gospel, and turn aside to some 
secular avocation, they did not prosper. " Tliey toiled 
all night and caught nothing." What a caution to 
preachers who turn aside from their work ! The Lord 
appears to them and inquires of them, " Children, 
have you any meat ? " They reply, " We have none." 
He commands them, " Cast your net on the right side of 
the ship." They cast the net and take the most aston- 
ishing draught of fish they ever saw. He caused their 
business to prosper beyond anything they had ever ex- 
perienced. Their prospects in this avocation were now 
brighter than ever before. They are now in the midst 
of an excitement of prosperity, intensely engaged with 
their nets and fish. Every thing is purposely made as 
attractive and fascinating as it can be. While it is all 
before their eyes, in its most exciting, fascinating and 
attractive form, the Lord tries them, puts them to the 
test : " Lovest thou me more than these ? " probably 
at the same moment, pointing his finger to the nets 
and fish. Peter replied, " Lord thou knowest that I 
love thee." The Lord commands, "Feed my sheep." 



BOOK OF GEMS. 461 

That is, " If you love me more than these fisheries," 
and are willing to forsake these and do my work, 
" Feed my sheep." This question, " Lovest thou me 
more than these ? " is one of so much importance that 
it is repeated three times over, and the Lord says to 
them, "I will make you fishers of men." This remark 
he had made to them when he first called them from 
their fisheries. After this last charge, "Feed my 
sheep," " Feed my lambs," we have no account of their 
ever fishing any more. 

We find that there are many preachers in our time 
to whom the Lord puts the question, "Lovest thou me 
more than these ? " Not, however these fisheries, but 
these lands, cattle, horses, mules, bank stocks, rail- 
road stocks, houses, barns, mills, shops, stores, offices, 
politics, wives, children, fathers or mothers. He is 
very exacting and speaks very decidedly. " If you 
love these more than me, you can not be my disciples" 
This is most fearful language. What is the test? The 
test is simply this, if we love the Lord more than 
these, we will follow him and do his work. If we love 
the Lord less than these, we will forsake the Lord's 
work and follow these. This is a matter that preach- 
ing brethren ought to put to their consciences. Can 
men who have the ability to preach Christ, who have 
tried it and know they can succeed, and whom the 
Lord has blessed in their efforts, turn from this great 
work to the pursuits of the world, at will, with impu- 
nity ? We do not believe they can. It is a fearful 
thing for them to do so. We know men of great abil- 
ity — men who can shake up society from its center to 
its circumference, if they will try, whose talents are 
measurably buried, or what is the same thing, devoted 



462 BOOK OF GEMS. 

to the world. These will certainly give a most strict 
account. 



•*~ «» 



MAN'S ACCOUNTABILITY. 



VERY sane man can and does believe and decide 
that Tie will do this, and that lie will not do that, 
every day of his life. Hence our Lord, when he 
wept over Jerusalem, cried, " O Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! 
how oft would I have gathered your children as a hen 
gathers her brood, but ye would not." In this view 
of the subject, the man of God could say, " Choose ye 
this day whom ye will serve.'/ In the same spirit, the 
Lord says, " If any man will come after me, let him 
deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow 
me." To the same amount, the apostle Paul says, 
" To whomsoever you yield yourselves servants to 
obey, his servants ye are." In the same Spirit, the 
New Testament closes, saying, " Whoever will, let 
him come." This justifies the Lord in saying, " He is 
not willing that any should perish, but that all should 
come to repentance." This all being so, the Lord, in 
referring to the last judgment, refers to the wicked- 
ness of man, as the ground of their condemnation. 
He says, they who have done evil, shall come forth to 
the resurrection of damnation. They who do his com- 
mandments, shall enter by the gates into the city, 
and have a right to the tree of life. The Lord says, 



BOOK OF GEMS. 463 

"Because I have called and ye refused; I have 
stretched out niy hand and no man regarded ; but ye 
have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of 
my reproof : I also will laugh at your calamity, and 
mock when your fear cometh ; when your fear coin- 
eth as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a 
whirlwind ; when distress and anguish cometh upon 
you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not 
answer ; they shall seek me early, but they shall not 
find me; for that they hated knowljdge, and did not* 
choose the fear of the Lord. Therefore shall they eat 
of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their 
own devices. For the turning away of the simple 
shall slay them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me 
shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of 
evil." Prov. i. 24-33. This, my friends, is the wis- 
dom of God. It will stand when all human reasoning 
will go for nothing. 



464 BOOK OE GEMS. 



THE NEW AND THE OLD. 




E do not desire to prevent discussion and inves- 
tigation, or to deprive brethren of great inven- 
tive genius from exercising their extraordinary 
powers, nor to deprive men of the pleasure of making 
discoveries ; but we are not favorable to allowing 
every man the privilege of taking out a patent right 
for everything that may be new to him ; because it 
may not only be oM with others, but useless, or even 
an old and oft exploded error. What we need now is, 
not so much men to make discoveries and invent some- 
thing new, as men to push the old, the well-tried, and 
that which is known to be valuable. We do not de- 
sire, on the one hand, to be everlastingly hearing 
some new thing, nor, on the other hand, prohibited 
from hearing any thing new. We do not desire to be 
ever learning and never able to come to the knowl- 
edge of the truth, nor to be never learning ; but to 
have our eyes open to anything profitable, that may 
be advanced, and continue in the faithful practice of 
what we know. But the main work is to push the 
truth through the world which we already have. 
Nothing is more sickening and disgusting, than for 
some mere boys, who have hardly read a half-dozen 
volumes, to start out under a pretence of discovering 
new truth, " going on to perfection," explaining the 
inner and outer man, the inner light, inner conscious- 



BOOK OF GEMS. 465 

ness, conscience, the will, new modes of revelation, 
the manner of the Spirit's work, etc., etc. We have 
had a perfect surfeit of all this kind of thing. 
* * * * x 

We do not need proud and vain young men to 
invent something new and glorify themselves, but 
humble and devoted young men, who will be content 
to " preach the word," " contend earnestly for the 
faith once delivered to the saints," and persevere in 
pushing the gospel through the world. We have no 
faith in these young sap heads who are trying to 
render themselves famous by pointing out to the 
world the errors of Alexander Campbell. It is true 
that it is not absolutely impossible that even a very 
young man should discover some important new truth, 
or an old one, that had, for a time, been neglected and 
covered up, but it is not at all probable ; and certain 
it is, that it is not the province of young men to 
spend a large share of their time in trying to present 
something new. We claim not to have comprehended 
all truth, so as to render it impossible for any thing 
more to be discovered ; but the main work is to im- 
press the truth we have upon the rising generation, 
and bring as many as possible under its influence. 
We want humble, working, and pious men, to spread 
the principles of the gospel through the world. 



466 BOOK OF GEMS. 



"MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD." 



^ijj people can or ought to prosper that will not 
d I respect the wisdom of God as set forth in both 
Q7Y the teaching and example of our Lord and his 
apostles. We can not make ourselves, as a great, 
rapidly increasing and prospering body, an exception 
to this rule. If we desire and intend to prosper in the 
great and good work of uniting saints, building up the 
church and saving men, we must confine ourselves 
strictly to the gospel — to the things of the kingdom of 
God and the name of Jesus Christ — determined to 
know nothing but Christ and him crucified — to glory 
in nothing but the cross of Christ. Our mission, as a 
religious body, as a christian ministry, and as chris- 
tian writers, is not of this world. The weapons of our 
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to 
the pulling down of strong holds. " We wrestle not 
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, 
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of 
this world, against wicked spirits in the heavenly 
regions." Our King commanded one of his men, when 
he drew a sword, and commencing battle with it, struck 
off the ear of the servant Malchus, to put up the 
sword, adding that they who take the sword shall 
perish by the sword. The apostle Paul fits out the 
christian soldier and equips him for his work. The 
following are the habiliments for the warfare: The 



BOOK OF GEMS. 467 

loins are to be girt about with truth, the breast-plate 
of righteousness is to be put on, the feet are to be shod 
with a preparation of the gospel. The shield of faith 
is to be taken, the helmet of salvation and the sword 
of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Here is the 
christian armor — our preparation for war. There is 
nothing carnal about it — no preparation to war against 
flesh and blood. We must hold fast to this armor — 
the heavenly armor — and use it with skill, resorting to 
no other, and we shall see the tall sons of men in 
thousands fall before us and join the army. 



•> «• 



POLICY IN PREACHING. 



<4% UBLIC men must be prudent, judicious and noble 
HM[ in their bearing, presenting the truth in the love 
&] of it. Men must not miscalculate their influence, 
their power, and time for presenting things. Preach- 
ers must know when and where things are to be said 
and done. Many men drive their audiences away, by 
their repulsive course, and think it the opposition of 
the people to the truth, that drives them away. We 
speak plainly on all the great issues between our- 
selves and the parties around us, in the pulpit, and 
yet seldom give offense, and never fail to have a good 
hearing from the parties around us, and seldom fail to 
gain some of them to the truth. And, what is better, 



468 BOOK OF GEMS. 

when they are gained, they are gained indeed — not by 
persuading them that there is but little difference 
between us, but by making them both see and feel 
the difference, and convincing them of the truth. 
Any thing short of this is of no account. 

Some men are for using a little Jesuitism. They 
would preach on common ground matters till they 
draw their hearers on and gain their attention. But 
we have nothing to do with any such policy. There 
is a vast amount of the most important and plain 
truth in the gospel, that the parties around us know 
comparatively nothing about, and consequently have 
no objection to it. They will hear it and be pleased 
with it. The main matter is to develop fully and 
largely, in the simplest style possible, with heart 
and solicitude for the happiness and salvation of 
the people, the whole scheme of redemption from 
the beginning, as if the people knew nothing at 
all about it. This must be done with power, and 
not in a prosing, indifferent and unfeeling manner. 
It will find way to honest hearts, in almost any 
community in this country. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 469 



THE CAUSE OF CHRIST IS ABOVE PARTISAN, 

POLITICS. 



1 



E have done a noble work, and that work is not 
to be foiled, defeated and destroyed by men 
^ who know not onr Master and love not his cause. 
We have been raised np by the Lord to be a mighty 
commnnity. God has a mission for us, a great mis- 
sion, and we are not to be defeated in it. That mission 
must be done. The Lord has put into our hands facil- 
ities for doing this great work, and he requires it at 
our hands. That work is simply to restore his own 
pure religion to the people of this generation, and 
build up the church as it was at the beginning. We 
have ascertained that the Lord laid but one founda- 
tion, reared but one building upon it, had but one 
temple, one body, one family, but one church. This 
one body had but one head, but one leader, and we are 
to keep our eye on him, follow him, love him and serve 
him for ever. We can not turn aside to the strifes of 
the world, from our legitimate work. We have 
preached union among the children of God, struggled 
for it and prayed for it long and ardently, and we now 
appreciate its value more than ever, since we feel its 
power and influence in time of trouble. An influence 
that can bind us in one body, in one fellowship, in the 
midst of such commotions and excitements, is not of 
this world. It is not an earthly influence, but above 



470 BOOK OF GEMS. 

the earth. It is from God. We know each other as 
the children of God, the disciples of Christ, as chris- 
tians, and not as political partisans. We know not a 
man because he belongs to this political party, or that; 
not because he lives on the one side of a geographical 
line, or the other ; not because he holds to this politi- 
cal creed or that ; but we know him because he is a 
child of God, an heir of the same inheritance, and re- 
deemed by the same blood of the Covenant. The 
bond that binds us together is not an earthly bond, 
and it is not limited by time. It is the love of God. 
It is not limited to this world, but shall last co-ex- 
istant with the years of God. It shall live and be 
fresh and vigorous when all worldy schemes and poli- 
cies and their advocates, shall be forgotten. Those 
who enjoy it shall also live beyond all the turmoil df 
political strife, beyond all the struggles and trials that 
beset our faith in this life. May we not live in vain, 
but do good in our day and generation. Mercy and 
peace upon the Israel of God. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 471 



" COME OUT OF BABYLON." 



^HE Lord calls to his people wherever they may be 
scattered in Babylon, saying, " Come out of her, 
my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, 
and that you receive not of her plagues." We live 
emphatically in the time for extending this cry, and 
we must extend it. The warning to those in danger, 
is a most righteous and benevolent warning, and 
those who hear it shall praise God forever, that it has 
reached their hearts, and induced them to abandon 
the devoted city. There is no escape for one soul, 
only by fleeing to the Lord, and that can only be done 
by abandoning all human laws, and adhering to the 
law of the Lord. " See that ye refuse not him that 
speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused him 
that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, 
if we turn awa}^ from him that speaketh from heaven ; 
whose voice then shook the earth ; but now he hath 
promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the 
earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet 
once more, signineth the removing of those things 
that are shaken, as of things that are made, that 
those things that can not be shaken, may remain. 
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which can not be 
moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God 
acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." Thanks 
to Heaven, there is a kingdom that can not be moved. 



472 BOOK OF GEMS. 

" Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but, he that doeth 
the will of my Father who is in heaven." "He," 
says the Lord, who hears these sayings of mine, and 
does them, I will liken him to a wise man." " He 
who hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, 
I will liken him to a foolish man." Our work is to 
try and call the attention of all nations to the sayings 
of our Lord, and induce them to hear him. They 
must hear him, or be lost for ever. 

Come out of Babylon, you saints of the Lord, 
wherever you are, and commit yourselves to the 
hands of the Lord. " Come out of her, my people, 
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that you re- 
ceive not of her plagues." Hear the holy John de- 
scribe her destruction : "A mighty angel took up a 
stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, 
saying, Thus with violence shall that great city, Baby- 
lon, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at 
all." Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy 
apostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged you on 
her." " After these things, I heard a great voice of 
much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia : Salvation, 
and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord, our 
God ; for true and righteous are his judgments ; for 
he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt 
the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the 
blood of his servants at her hand. And again, they 
said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up forever and 
ever. And the four and twenty eiders, and the four 
living creatures fell down and worshipped him that sat 
upon the throne, saying, Amen ; Alleluia ! And a 
voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God 



BOOK OF GEMS. 473 

all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small 
and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a 
great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and 
as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia ; 
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be 
glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb has come and his wife hath made 
herself ready." 

Wonderful things are before us, and let us be in 
readiness for their approach. When Paul was leav- 
ing the disciples, expecting to meet them no more in 
the flesh, he said, " I commend you to God and to the 
word of his grace, which is able to build you up and 
give you an inheritance among all them that are 
sanctified." This same word, another Apostle says, is 
able to save your souls , and the Lord says, " The 
words which I speak to you shall judge you in the 
last day." His word lives and abides forever and 
ever. If we were making our dying request, and that 
to the dearest friends we have on earth, we would 
request them to abandon all human authorities and 
hold on to the word of the Lord for ever. 



474 BOOK OF GEMS. 



PREACH " FIRST PRINCIPLES." 



'HERE is no telling the evils that have arisen in 
some old congregations, from preachers assuming 
that their audiences knew all about what are 
usually called first principles, and not preaching them. 
In this way, they never get' their audiences to under- 
stand the principles of the gospel at all. They preach 
to their half-sleeping audiences, not hearers, some 
little, exhortatory sermon, of twenty -five or thirty 
minutes, and not a syllable is recollected two days. 
The people are thankful that the sermon was short, 
and the preacher thankful that " service " is over. In 
this way the gospel has literally been shut out of 
some churches, and year after year passes without any 
thing like a clear development of the gospel, and 
neither the church nor the regular hearers understand 
the gospel, or know the difference between the gospel 
and something else. This also gives rise to textuary 
preaching and preaching a sermon " to develop a single 
thought." We heard of one preacher who delivered 
a sermon on the text, " And there shall be no night 
there." The wording was soft as a summer breeze and 
as harmless as a butterfly. JSTow, we must say that we 
abominate this as mere trash. We want good, sound, 
solid and manly preaching, containing principles and 
practical instruction, that will make an audience think 
and feel, and that to some purpose. Let us advocate 



BOOK OF GEMS. 475 

the cause, maintain and defend it, with zeal, earnest- 
ness and power. Unfold the great principles of the 
faith, spread them out and let the world see them, 
and see at the same time that we intend they shall 
prevail. The principles are self-evidently right, and 
there is no reason why any man should be ashamed of 
them, or afraid to advocate them. They can be car- 
ried through the world, and we have the men and abil- 
ity, and, the Lord helping us, we shall spread them 
throughout the land. 



•»» ■«< 



DEVELOPING THE TALENTS OF THE YOUNG. 



I E must make an effort to bring out our young 
people. If they are brought into the criurch, 
Y^ and not employed any way, not induced to do 
anything, nor in any way made useful, one half of 
them will be led off into the world again. A bishop 
who understands this matter, will engage not simply 
the attention of the young, but their ability, what- 
ever it may be, and bring it out. We fell in company 
with a bishop of this kind a few evenings since, on 
the cars, who informed us, if our memory is not at 
fault, that out of about forty male members in his 
congregation, in Illinois, all but some three took some 
part in the public worship, by way of reading, prayer, 
or exhortation. We have recently heard of several 



476 BOOK OF GEMS. 

churches of this sort. These can worship without a 
preacher, can " draw out an audience," and will, in a 
short time, send out preachers. Bishops who thus 
bring forward their young men, are bishops indeed. 
They do not imagine that their work is to sing, pray, 
preach, break the loaf, rule, and do every thing, and 
that the duty of the audience is simply to obey them. 
It is the work of a Christian bishop to develop and 
bring out the talent in the congregation, and apply 
it to the work of the Lord. Here is where our preach- 
ers are to come from. The church must furnish the 
preachers of Christ. No other institution will ever 
do it. We need not look to our colleges to make 
preachers. They will never do it. We need the col- 
leges as much as any of our brethren have ever 
thought; but not to make preachers, but to educate 
our young men who want to preach or do anything 
else. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 477 



WHAT A PREACHER MUST BE. 



E must Ibe earnest. Men who preach the gospel 
of Christ must be earnest. They must not trifle 
with the gospel and the souls of men. The 
theme is too vast, the responsibility too great and the 
issues too momentous to be treated in a careless, in- 
different and prosing manner. The idea of a man 
speaking of questions of life and death, eternal hap- 
piness and eternal misery, the glories to be revealed 
at the appearing and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and the terrible destruction that shall be the destiny 
to all who obey not the gospel, in a cold, dull and un - 
feeling manner, is preposterous. These are the most 
awful, momentous and sublime themes that ever 
dwelt upon the lips of men ; and let him who speaks 
of them, remember that he is pleading in a case of 
life and death. Let him speak with earnestness, 
spirit and power. 

He must be a man of perseverance. A man who 
can not preach a week without any success, and not 
become discouraged, had better go home. He is not 
the man. It is nothing strange to preach a dozen or 
fifteen discourses without success. Let him preach 
again. If he still has no success, let him humble 
himself before the Lord, in most fervent prayer, and 
make another effort. If he shall still fail in one place, 
go to another, and try again. Remember Noah, who 



478 BOOK OF GEMS. 

preached one hundred and twenty years, withont an 
addition, and preach on and pray on. Trust in the 
Lord, and work on. 

He must be a man that can not be discouraged. 
He must be determined that he will listen to no dis- 
couraging tales. When met by some faint-hearted, 
sickly, and half-believing brother, who doles out his 
story about the troubles among the brethren, the 
opposition to be encountered, and how " hard a place 
it is," where he is operating, he must pay no attention 
to it, but rise above it, and bear it in mind that there 
are good and honest-hearted souls in every commu- 
nity, who will receive and obey the gospel, if it is 
faithfully presented. Keep these in your mind, preach- 
ing brother, and try to save them, and you will suc- 
ceed in a vast majority of cases. Inspire your au- 
dience with courage and confidence, especially the 
brethren. Allow no whining, complaining, and say- 
ing, " We can't do anything," and believe nothing of 
the kind. You can do something, and you must tell 
the people so, and keep on till you do it. You must 
not work in doubt, but in strong confidence that you 
have the truth — that you are advocating the cause of 
righteousness — that God is in it, will be with you, 
never leave you nor forsake you — that you can, by 
the help of the Lord, make the cause prosper, and 
will do it. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 479 



THEORY AND PRACTICE. 



TpT is one thing for a man to say he is for the Bible, 
^j the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible, and it 

I is quite another thing to learn and practice some 
of the first and clearest lessons of the Bible. The only 
authority there is in the Bible for preaching the gos- 
pel at all, requires that it be preached in all the world 
— to every creature. Yet, strange to say, the first 
thing many seem to think of, and the only thing, is 
the mere vicinity where they reside. They are fre- 
quently few, weak and uninfluential ; can get no 
preacher to their vicinity ; or if they do get one once 
in a great while, they entertain him with an account of 
their weakness and inability to pay, make him sacri- 
fice more to preach for them than they all sacrifice to 
support him. In other words, if they ought to give 
him thirty dollars, by a hard stretch they raise fifteen 
dollars, and send him off fifteen dollars minus what he 
ought to have had. After thus disheartening him, 
breaking him down and starving him, or especially his 
wife and children, they comment upon the old adage, 
" charity begins at home." 

Declaim against foreign missions, and prepare to 
give the State Board twenty -five dollars if the Board 
will send them one hundred dollars worth of preach- 
ing. After they treat a preacher in this way a few 
times, he is compelled from absolute necessity to aban- 



480 BOOK OF GEMS. 

don them. Thus, isolated, forsaken and helpless, they 
take no publications, know nothing of what is going 
on, pine away and die. This shows the utter fallacy 
of little, weak and helpless congregations keeping 
themselves isolated. They should act with their breth- 
ren, report themselves, be known in all their efforts, and 
send in their contributions, no matter how small. The 
ground of complaint here is, however, more on the 
part of preachers than any place else. In all our 
preaching, we should inculcate a missionary spirit, the 
importance of acting in harmony, unitedly and with 
energy in all our undertakings to evangelize the 
world. 



THE CONVERTING POWER. 






^ (fjlEN are talking of justification by faith alone ; 
but the main trouble is, that they have no 
b faith. They have no confidence in the gospel, 
the power of God. They have no confidence in 
preaching the cross of Christ, the power and wisdom 
of God. They have no confidence in preaching Christ 
to save the world. They never preach Christ with 
any animation — any spirit or power. They have 
deserted God's ordained power to save men, and are 
dealing out their insipid theories of spiritual influence, 
their views and philosophies, which have nothing in 



BOOK OF GEMS. 481 

them to save, if they were all true. Preaching theo- 
ries of the Word or of the Spirit, of the mode of the 
Divine existence, or of anything else, has no power 
to convert or save any one. All the preaching of 
Calvinism or Arminianism, of Trinitarianism or Uni- 
tarianism, of Necessity or Freedom, or all the other 
theories ever preached, whether true or false, never 
saved one soul of our poor fallen race. But the 
preaching of the gospel, preaching Christ, the cross of 
Christ, is the ordained work for the Christian minis- 
try. This is unequivocally the power God has author- 
ized them to exercise in saving sinners. We know it 
will save sinners, from the following three reasons : 

1. The Holy Spirit declares it to be " the power of 
God, to every one that believes." 

2. The apostles and first ministers of Christ 
preached it to the salvation of thousands in a single 
day, and millions in a few years. 

3. We are preaching the gospel almost every day 
of our life, and find it bringing sinners to Christ. We 
have all faith in the gospel, the ancient gospel, preach- 
ed in its purity and simplicity, as the only means of 
saving man. It will save men. It is the power of 
God to save men. We realize this more and more 
every year. The blessing of the Lord is attending 
every man who has faith in Christ, in his word, and 
preaches the gospel honestly. 

But we know that those brethren who oppose us in 
this, are wrong, for the following reasons : 

1. The Lord never said that their theories upon 
any subject, were the power of God unto salvation to 
any body, either Jew or Greek. 

2. The apostles never preached in their style. 

3. They convert nobody when they do preach. 



48£ BOOK OF GEMS. 

4. The church dies under their preaching in every 
instance. 

Brethren, have all confidence in the gospel of your 
salvation ; preach it, advocate it, propagate it ; per- 
petuate and hand it down to the future generations. 
We have all confidence in it ; expect to lean upon it 
while living and when dying. " We commend you to 
God and to the word of his grace, w T hich is able to 
build you up, and give you an inheritance among all 
them who are sanctified," said an old saint, when 
leaving a church, and when assuring the disciples that 
they should see his face no more. The gospel will live ; 
and, those who have confidence in it, love it, preach 
it, and practice it, will live co-existent with the years 
of God. 



• » » ««• 



IMPERFECT MEDIUM FOR A PERFECT REVELATION. 



TJMAN language, perfect or imperfect, is the only 
medium through which a revelation to man ever 
was or ever can be made. We do not claim for 
the medium that it is perfect, but the revelation itself 
is perfect. The imperfection of language and insta- 
bility form the occasion for new translations and revis- 
ions. Revelation, when first given to man, was perfect 
and the language employed to convey it to the mind 
of man answered the purpose. In the providence of 
God, the original languages through which revelation 



BOOK OF GEMS. 483 

was made died, and consequently ceased to change. 
But, in the very nature of things, a living language is 
always changing. The circumstance, however, that 
language is an imperfect Vehicle through which to con 
vey divine things, is no objection to the divine things 
thus conveyed to us. It may be a reason why our 
knowledge of revelation will never be perfect in this 
life ; but certainly no reason why revelation itself 
shall be considered imperfect. It may be alleged that 
revelation to man is more difficult on account of the 
imperfection and instability of language ; but the same 
difficulty lies in the way of every kind of communi- 
cations to men. 

The true state of the case is, that the medium of 
language is sufficiently perfect and entirely adequate 
for all the purposes of a revelation to mankind. The 
communication from God to man found in the Bible is 
sufficiently clear and intelligible for all the purposes 
of its original design. The man who will make an 
honest effort, can understand the will of God concern- 
ing him — can discriminate between good and evil, right 
and wrong, the way to hell and the way to heaven. 
But the man who will not make an honest effort, would 
not be a christian if one would rise from the dead be- 
fore his eyes. If he had seen the Lord in person he 
would have found occasion for caviling. The seed of 
the kingdom must fall into a good and honest heart. 

It is useless to fall out with the medium through 
which revelation has come to man. The best medium 
in existence was employed, the very one through which 
we communicate man with man, and the one with 
which man is more familiar than any other — the 
medium of language. 



484 . BOOK OE GEMS. 



OVERLOOKING HUMBLE BUT GOOD MEN. 




E have lately been reflecting npon an opportu- 
nity for doing great good perfectly within our 
reach, to which many are paying but little at- 
tention. Who among our brethren are thinking how 
many humble, unassuming and comparitively obscure 
men we have, who are actually doing a great work, 
and not only doing it at their own charges, but doing 
it without thanks or even credit from their brethren? 
While we are paying much attention to a few men of 
popularity, influence and fame, we are overlooking a 
large number of the best, truest, most self-sacrificing 
men the Lord has given us. These, too, are the men 
who are doing the main body of the work, and they 
are the mairr supports of the cause. They are men of 
good sense, piety and devotion ; men of excellent char- 
acter, an honor to the cause and a credit to the broth- 
erhood, who are penetrating the private neighborhoods, 
preaching in private houses, school houses, barns, 
shops, and open groves, and bringing thousands to the 
fold every year ; and in the place of the brethren mak- 
ing any arrangement to support them, or even saying 
anything to encourage them, they are saying discour- 
aging things of them, such as that " they can't preach 
— " they are little preachers," etc., etc. 

Now, we desire to hear of some old church, where 
wealth abounds, instead of monopolizing money and 



BOOK OF GEMS. 485 

talent in preaching in their midst, where probably they 
can do but little good, making arrangements ontside 
to sustain some good man, such as we have described, 
to visit those by-ways all through the land, where 
most numbers may be converted and the work of 
the Lord greatly extended. We have the men to do 
this work, good men, men in whom we have all con- 
fidence, who desire to do this work, and are doing it 
measurably without charge. These men do not desire 
large wages for their work. Indeed, they have shown, 
in many instances, that they will work on, pay or no 
pay. But they could do vastly more if they were sup- 
ported. Now, the idea of our fixing our eye upon a 
few talented men, paying them large salaries, and 
wholly neglecting these, is manifestly wrong. It is 
sinful. "We saw six or eight preachers such as we 
allude to, together in Mexico, Missouri, — and we find 
them in every community, and we vouch for the fact, 
that more than one-half of all the accessions reported 
are from men of this description. 

We live in a time when humble men and good men 
are overlooked ; when working men are forgotten and 
neglected ; and we desire to make a plea in behalf of 
these. They are the men who are willing to go into 
all the highways and by-places — to preach in the pri- 
vate house, the school house, the barn, the shop or the 
grove. A large proportion of all the work that has 
been done is the result of the sacrifices, labors and 
toils of this class of men. They are the men that will 
now do the work, do it well, and with less expense 
than any others. There are hundreds of men of this 
description that have never received one hundred dol- 
lars in a year for all their hard labor. We have in our 



486 BOOK OF GEMS. 

mind several of this class, who have brought into the 
fold large numbers every year, and have received for 
their labor comparatively nothing. Will not the 
brethren make arrangements to do something for these 
brethren ? They are willing to go among the poor, the 
destitute, and preach to them the unsearchable riches 
of Christ. 

If those who have means to expend for the cause, 
will look to this class of men and to their work and 
aid them, they will do one hundred per cent, more with 
their means than is generally the case. These will go 
where another class of men will not go, and do a work 
that another class of men will not do, and yet a work 
every way as important to the conversion of the world. 
Send these men all through the land, and convert the 
country, and then we can easily convert the city. We 
have a large number of this class of men who can be 
employed for two, three and four hundred dollars a 
year, to preach a great portion of their time, and they 
are the only men who can and will penetrate all the 
nooks and corners of the land. The Lord help us to 
appreciate these good men, and see that they are aided 
in their labors of love and work of faith. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 487 



SUGGESTIONS TO A YOUNG SCEPTIC. 




A young gentleman had called for the reconciliation of certain 
points in the New Testament narratives, which, to his mind, seemed 
incongruous. After noting each of the points separately, in the A. C. 
Review, for May, 1859, the editor added : 

f) UT, my dear sir, the reconciling what to you may 
be apparent discrepancies, is no reason for your 
becoming a Christian ; nor should you think me 
unable to reconcile them, or should I really be unable 
to reconcile them, or should all men be unable to 
reconcile them, that would still be no reason why you 
or any man should reject Christ. The inability to 
reconcile these matters may arise from our ignorance 
and not from the fact that they are irreconcilable. It 
would not be a reason for rejecting the gospel, if the 
statements of these witnesses were really in them- 
selves irreconcilable or inaccurate. The inaccuracy 
might easily have found its way into their testimony, 
in translating, transcribing, or interpolation, and 
Christ still be divine. The whole matter rests upon 
Clirist, and not upon the congruity or the incongruity 
of the sacred narratives, unless their consistency can 
be so impaired as to destroy their testimony concern- 
ing Christ. The matter is not whether you can recon- 
cile all the statements of Matthew, Mark, Luke and 
John, whether you can show their consistency and 
understand them throughout, but whether you believe 



488 BOOK OF GEMS. 

in Christ or not, whether yon will receive him or iiot. 
Can yon say, sir, that yon are pondering in your mind 
whether to regard Jesus as divine or an imposter ? 
This is the question for you to fix your eye upon. 
You have not time now to study the whole Bible and 
decide upon a sentence at a time, whether you believe 
it or not. It would take you a long time to become a 
Christian in that way. You should not go to the 
Bible for that purpose, but go there to learn all about 
Christ, the purity of his life, his wonderful teachings, 
his miracles, his perfect knowledge of what is in man, 
the fulfillment of all the prophecies in him, with an 
eye simply upon the question — is he the Christ, the 
Son of God ? You can shape your inquiries in differ- 
ent forms, though constantly bearing upon the same 
question, by inquiring as follows : Was Jesus perfect 
in his life ? If he was, he was more than man, for no 
mere man ever was perfect. Were his teachings per- 
fect? If they were, they were not of man, for no 
mere man ever gave the world perfect teachings. All 
merely human teachings, in all the world, and in all 
ages, have been imperfect, and, it is a miracle in it- 
self, for a perfect being to appear among men, in 
human form, or a perfect system of teaching to be 
presented by him to man. He emphatically spake as 
never man spake. 

Can it be possible that you, my dear sir, are vacil- 
lating in your, mind whether Jesus is the Christ, the 
Son of God? Can you doubt whether he was the 
friend of man? whether he loved man? whether you 
would be infallibly safe under his guidance? Can 
you doubt whether he was good ? whether his teach- 
ing was good ? whether it was safe ? You must feel 



BOOK OF GEMS. 489 

conscious that he is the Christ, the Son of God — the 
friend of man — that he loved man — that he went 
about doing good — that you are infallibly safe in fol- 
lowing him — that his teaching is good — that it is 
divine. You would not now deny him for the world. 
Your eternal all is in him. If the worst things infi- 
dels have ever said of him were true, it is better and 
safer to follow him, than them ; for they admit that 
he was better than they, and his teaching better than 
their own. As you value your soul, follow him. 



JJ 



DIALOGUE ABOUT THE PREACHER. 



'HE following dialogue between Dr. Pietus and Dr. 
Fastidious, occurred in a social company, in a 
parlor, and, thinking it might be profitable to 
some brethren, and even churches, we have concluded 
to publish it entire, without recommending or con- 
demning it ; therefore, we let it speak for itself : 

Dr. Fastidious. — I have, for some time, desired an 
opportunity to say a few words, though confidentially 
to you, Dr. Pietus, touching our preacher. I think he is 
not a suitable man, for such a prominent place as this. 
You know that we frequently have men of distinction 
here. Besides, our city is one of prominence, and we 
ought to have a man of distinction. 

Dr. Pietus. — I think our preacher is a good man, 



490 BOOK OF GEMS. 

Doctor, a sound man, and a man of great moral 
worth. I thought he gave us one of the best exhorta- 
tions at the prayer-meeting, on last Wednesday night, 
I ever heard. Did you not think so ? 

Dr. F. — I was not there. He is so uninteresting 
that I but rarely go to hear him. I know that he is a 
good man, and sound enough. But then, he is a very 
common man, and not sufficiently showy and eloquent 
for us. We need a first-class preacher in a city like 
this ; a man who can draw out an audience. 

Dr. P. — I never think of such a thing as a preacher 
to draw Christians out to meeting. The Lord draws 
me out to meeting. He has promised to be there, and 
I have never found his promise to fail. I am never 
disappointed, for I go to meeting believing that he 
will be there, and I always find him. But those who 
only go because they love some preacher, frequently 
get disappointed; for the preacher being a fallible 
creature, often fails to attend. But I do think our 
preacher is a good preacher. I do not know where 
we could get a better man. 

Dr. F. — We need a man of distinction and noto- 
riety, who will attract attention, and draw out an 
audience. I would then go out and try to do some- 
thing. But, I have no faith in doing anything, till we 
have a more attractive preacher. 

Dr. P. — My dear sir, we will never get a preacher 
who can draw out an audience, unless we draw too. 
As much depends upon a church in drawing out an 
audience as the preacher. No preacher can draw out an 
audience unless the church does its part. We must 
do our part as a church, or no preacher in the world 
can do us any good. I still think our present preacher 



BOOT? OF OEMS. 491 

has done about as much for us, as any man could 
have done under the circumstances. It is not a dif- 
ferent kind of preacher we need, but a different Mnd 
of a church. We need members that will attend the 
public worship, sing, pray, exhort, and stand at their 
post. In one word, we need a church that will stand 
by the preacher, encourage, sustain him, and hold up 
his hands. 

De. F. — I never saw such a man as you are. You 
can be satisfied with any kind of preaching. I never 
saw you present when any man preached, when you 
did not appear satisfied, no matter how bungling he 
was. 

De. P. — I think but little about preachers, have 
fewer favorites, and more rarely speak in praise or 
complaint of preachers, than almost any man you 
can find. I am not thinking of the messenger, but of 
the message. 

De. F. — I can not bear a prosing, stammering and 
dry preacher. I have not heard our preacher present 
anything new in three months. I like to learn some- 
thing when I go to hear preaching. 

De. P. — When were you at meeting last ? I do not 
recollect seeing you for some three months in the 
meeting house. 

De. F. — I have been pressed with — I have not been 
very well — the preaching has not suited me, and there 
are many in the church that should have been ex- 
cluded long since. 

De. P. — No wonder you have heard nothing new 
from our brother ; for you have not heard him at all. 
If his preaching had been the best in the world, it 
would have done you no good, while you did not hear 



492 BOOK OF GEMS. 

it. I will tell 7011, my dear brother, how to make 
preaching better to us : Read the Scriptures every day ; 
pray night and morning ; talk to every one you meet 
about religion, and your heart will be full of the 
theme. You will then like to hear any man who can 
preach at all. Attend all the meetings, participate in 
the songs, prayers, exhortations and all the other 
parts of public worship, and you will then be inter- 
ested in all that you hear from good men. 

Dr. F. — Your notions of preaching will not do. 
Our city is one of intelligence. This community, you 
must recollect, is highly enlightened, and we must 
have a man here that keeps pace with the age. We 
frequently have statesmen, lawyers, physicians and 
men of the first rank in attendance, and it is useless 
to think of interesting these with any common talents. 
We must have a man of taste, refinement, and highly 
accomplished. 

Dr. P. — When did our Lord ever try to arrest the 
attention of the elite of this world by show, by mere 
human polish and flourish? Never, never, Doctor, as 
you certainly know. Are you not aware, my dear 
sir, that the wisdom of God is not in this vain and 
worldly thing that you speak of? Sensible people, 
those truly enlightened and great, can understand the 
gospel, appreciate and receive it, when it is simplified 
and made appreciable to the masses of the people. 
Not only so, doctor, but the class you aim to please, 
though enlightened in the things of the world, and 
accomplished, they are more unenlightened in the 
things of the kingdom of God, than many that you 
never think of pleasing. I am for a preacher that 
will try to please the Lord, whether he pleases your 
distinguished men or not. 



BOOK OF GEMS. 493 

De. F. — We have had some of the best speakers in 
the world here, and the truth is, the people here know 
what good talent is, and they will not "be satisfied with 
ordinary men. The people here have been well taught. 
No man can attract attention here unless he is a supe- 
rior man. 

De. P. — That the people here have heard some men 
of good preaching talent, is true ; but that they are 
well-read and well taught in Christianity, is far from 
true. That they understand Jesus or the apostles 
well, is far from true. Many perfectly country places 
and rural districts contain far more gospel light .than 
may be found in the bounds of our congregation. We 
presume that we are wise, while many plain men from 
the country are astonished when they converse with 
us, that we are so ignorant. To be plain with you, my 
dear brother, I know of no place where there is, at 
this time, more need of plain, old-fashioned, New Tes- 
tament preaching than here. It is not worldly show 
that we need ; we have that now in abundance. We 
need the simple teachings of Jesus, solemnly and 
affectionately impressed upon our hearts, by some 
good man who loves us and will try to save us. In 
the place of being inflated with the conceit that we are 
well taught, far advanced and highly elevated in chris- 
tian attainments, so that no man except one of the 
most exalted accomplishments can teach us, we should 
be sensible of what is the true state of the case, viz : 
That almost any plain and good man who preaches 
among us, can teach us many useful lessons that we 
do not know. 

De. F. — I can not agree with you. I have had my 
face burn more than once, in listening to some igno- 



494 BOOK OF OEMS. 

rant brother, blundering and trying to preach, who 
evidently did not understand his mother tongue, and 
that, too, in the presence of some distinguished per- 
sons. I can never countenance such a state of things. 

De. P. — Doctor, I had rather hear some good man, 
who can not speak his mother tongue correctly, tell the 
plain story of the cross of Christ, in the love of Jesus, 
and in the spirit and power of a holy man of God, a 
thousand times, than to listen to one of your showy 
men, who can preach a beautiful sermon without any 
Jesus, Holy Spirit, love of God, or anything else, but 
the man himself in it. I desire preaching that will 
convert men to Jesus — to Christianity and not to men. 
The converts will then love Jesus, meet and worship 
him and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 
We do not want a man here to worship him, but to 
preach Jesus to us and teach us to worship Him. 

De. F. — With your views of the subject, we shall 
never do any good. We shall never draw out an audi- 
ence, nor accomplish anything. I am in favor of pro- 
curing a man at a salary of $2,000 or $2,500, that will 
command the respect of our city. Then we shall do 
some good. I am willing to give liberally when such 
an arrangement can be made, but I do not think our 
preacher is doing any good, and shall not give any- 
thing for his support. 

De. P. — I am sorry to hear you speak so. Nothing, 
in my estimation could be more disastrous to us. This 
would consume about all we could possibly raise, so 
that we could not raise a dollar for missions, for col- 
leges, the poor or anything only to pay a man to 
preach to us. At this rate our large congregation 
would only just be able to support itself and bear its 



BOOK OF GEMS. 495 

own weight ! Who is to convert the world at this rate ! 
If we can not do anything more than sustain ourselves 
who are to support missions, build colleges and take 
care of the poor ? If you had such a preacher as you 
want, he would have to do everything himself, or you 
would not be satisfied. ISTot a brother in the church 
would ever pray, exhort, or do anything that would 
call forth a gift, or develop any talents that might be 
among our numbers. Hence in all these city churches 
where some great man is the center of attraction, they 
rarely ever bring forward any young preachers, or 
develop any new talent. They simply monopolize tal- 
ent brought out and developed some place else. I am 
in favor of preachers of ability, not only in our city 
churches, but as far as possible, in all the churches. 
But the way must be opened among us for the devel- 
opment of talent in the church. Our pride must not 
despise incipient efforts — plain and humble men, nor 
human weakness. It is in all men more or less, though 
not always developed in the same form. 

Dr. F. — I think if we had such a preacher as I wish, 
we would draw out an audience, convert many people 
and greatly extend the cause in one year. 

Dr. P. — No, Doctor, that would not be the case. The 
preacher we have is just as good as any man we can 
get. He is a man of unquestionable talents and piety 
and if we stand by him, aid him and encourage him, 
thus showing to the world that we respect him, those 
without will also respect him and he will succeed. If 
we had the most gifted man on the continent and the 
members of the church would treat him as they have 
done our present preacher he would do nothing. By 
our absenting ourselves, we virtually say, what you 



496 BOOK OF GEMS. 

have in so many words said, that our preacher can do 
no good here. When the members of the church thus 
speak and act, neither a man nor an angel can do any 
thing ; and, if I were the preacher, I would not stay a 
moment with brethren who would thus treat me. I 
would go where I could be appreciated. Doctor, come 
to meeting and let us make one good effort and see if 
we can not bring our church out. Let us produce a 
change in the church, and then probably our preacher 
will do well enough. I think we need a change in the 
church more than in the preacher, or preaching. 



-•*—*•- 



" THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINS." 



^HE preachers who love Christ better than party- 
ism, will preach Christ, will call the people to 
Christ, and induce them to love him, and love all 
that do love him. They will inquire his will, and do it. 
They will exchange the love of party for the love of 
Christ, and find it so much higher, holier, purer and 
happier, that they will ignore all party feuds, wrang- 
ling and strifes, and maintain simply " the faith once 
delivered to the saints." No doctrinal corrections, or 
corrections in ordinances, or in organization and gov- 
ernment, will ever amount to anything, or save a peo- 
ple, who have not the love of Christ. We may be 
told that we may be mistaken, that they do love 



BOOK OF GEMS. 497 

Christ. We cannot be mistaken in this, for the Lord 
says, "From the abundance of the heart, the mouth 
speaks. A man full of the love of Christ, will speak 
of Christ. The theme of his heart will dwell upon his 
tongue. Where Christ has promised to be, they will 
be with him. " Where two or three are met together 
in my name, there," says the Lord, " I will be." How 
ma ay go to these places where Jesus has promised 
to be ? How many go to the Lord's table, to remem- 
ber his dying love ? How many of the preachers will 
sit down together, as loving disciples, and meditate 
upon his dying love, his great suffering, as he bore our 
sins on the accursed tree ? 

W^hen we have lost friends, we go to the grave, and 
think of them, try to bring them up in our memories. 
We talk with our friends about them, and about see- 
ing them and meeting them in another state. How 
often do the professors of religion, in our times, think 
of the grave of Jesus, his resurrection, his coronation ? 
How often do they commemorate his sufferings, and 
meditate upon his great love to us ? His name is al- 
most set aside, his sufferings almost forgotten, his 
love, even his dying love, scarcely mentioned! Yet 
the word of the Lord, when translated into English, 
thunders in our ears ! — "If any man love not the Lord 
Jesus Christ, he will be accursed when the Lord 
comes." We shall hear these words, and be judged 
by them, in a day when we shall feel their force. 
Jesus is the " one Lord," the one object of love, the 
one head and king. Shall we make an effort to rescue 
the people from party influence, and win their hearts 
and affections from all the frivplous objects upon 
which they are placed in partyism, and place them 



498 BOOK OF GEMS. 

upon Him who is the express image of the invisible 
God, the brightness of the Father's glory, and in 
whom all the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily ? 
"Who, with the love of Christ in his own breast, can fail 
to see that the work now for good men, is to call the 
attention of all men to Christ, to his word, his cause, 
his church, his salvation, his way, that they may love 
him supremely, and be his for evermore ? 



CONCLUSION OF THE YEAR. 



EAR, Reader, we are now about closing another 
year. This number completes our weekly visits 
for another year. The time appears short since 
we made the first visit this year, still, fifty- two weeks 
have run their course. Another year has fled, and- is 
now numbered with the years before the flood. The 
good deeds of the righteous are entered on the records 
of eternity, to come up to their everlasting honor in 
the day when the righteous judge shall award to every 
man according to his works. 'Not only so, but all the 
crimes, the transgressions, and acts of disobedience of 
every variety, in a long catalogue, have gone up and 
been registered in the book of remembrance before 
the Lord. "What a list must that be ! What a spec- 
tacle must this world be, with all its dark crimes and 
acts of rebellion against the Majesty of heaven and 



BOOK OF GEMS. 499 

earth, to the eye of the omniscient One ! Every den 
of drunkenness, debauchery, profanity, lying and 
gambling, lies spread open to the All-seeing eye. 
Not an oath falls without his notice, not a fraud, a 
deception, cheat, lie, or crime of any sort escapes 
Omniscience. All, all sins, transgressions and mis- 
demeanors of every sort are treasured up and kept 
in store for the day of final account. 

What adds to the solemnity of the matter is, that 
no amends can be made in acts of the past. There 
they stand irrevocably, so far as we are concerned. 
The Lord may wash away every stain in his own pre- 
cious blood, where persons come to him in a proper 
manner. But even this does not amend for the past. 
It takes away our guilt, and is a means of saving us. 
But the wrongs done remain wrong and will so remain 
for ever. Repentance changes not the wrong done. In 
the same way, the good neglected, during the year 
now closing, will so remain for ever. We can do good, 
it is true, the coming year ; but that we could have 
done, and that it would have been our duty to have 
done, if we had done good all last year. Opportuni- 
ties for doing good never return. Other opportunities 
may come, but they would have come if no previous 
opportunities had been neglected. You had an oppor- 
tunity this year to have ministered to the wants of the 
poor widow, the orphan, the sick, the afflicted and dis- 
tressed, but these opportunities are now gone, and 
gone forever. If neglected, there is no remedy ; that 
neglect remains forever. We may repent, obtain for- 
giveness and do good in time to come, but all that 
good could have been done just as well had there been 
no previous neglect, and would have been more liable 



500 BOOK OF GEMS. 

to have been done, for one delinquency opens the way 
for another and has a tendency to induce it. 

In closing the year, it is well enough for us to cast 
an eye "back over the ground, not to amend the year 
now closing, for that is impossible, but to see where 
the delinquency has been, and determine that a simi- 
lar delinquency shall not be found in the work of the 
coming year. In this way, we may profit by looking 
over the past. What, then has been entered to our 
account on the records of eternity ? What have we 
done as a great religious body ? What have we done 
as individual congregations, or communities ? What 
have we done as families ? What have we done as 
individuals ? What have we done as teachers in the 
Sunday schools ? What have we done as preachers 
of the gospel ? What have we done as religious edi- 
tors ? Now is the time to review and see how the 
account stands before the Lord. If the Lord should 
call on us for our annual report, are we ready ? 



FINIS. 



ST. LOUIS, MO. 

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A. B. JONES, G. W. LONGAN, T. MUNNELL. 

J. Z. TAYLOR, A. CAMPBELL. 

BOUND IN CLOTH, 75 CENTS. 

The Publisher presents this volume to the Public in the hope that much good 
may result. It contains the mature thought of some of our ablest writers on an 
important Bible theme. While Symposium may be a novel thing among us, the 
Publisher would fain hope that an appreciative public will commend this method 
of presenting a subject from different angles of vision. It is believed that the 
times are propitious for the Disciples to make themselves more widely felt by 
their contributions to the religious literature of the age. It is the ambition of 
the Publisher to make this volume the first of a uniform Series ; each to be com- 
posed of Essays on the living issues in Christian thought. The subjects for 
the different volumes will be chosen so as to make the Series comprehend a wide 
range. Should the plan be successful, the whole Series when complete, will 
form a unique and valuable addition to the libraries of wide-awake religious 
people. The Publisher sincerely hopes that the reception of this book may 
demonstrate a general desire on the part of the public for books of like merit 
and method; and that he maybe able in this convenient form to send broad- 
cast over the land the richest thought of the ripest minds among us, and bo of 
service to the Master's cause, and to his day and generation. 



WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT 



SYMPOSIU M ON THE HOL Y SPIRIT. 

This is an elegantly boimd little book. The style is of the highest order, all 
of the authors being first-class writers. The subject is profound, and so is the 
treatment. It has been handled in a masterly manner. The authors are not 
agreed, but it is a book of investigation and not of controvesy. While the reader 
may not agree with some of the writers, he will feel that everything is said in a 
fair and manly way. The subject is viewed from every stand-point, which makes 
the treatise valuable to those searching for the truth. As the name indicates, 
this little book truly presents a feast. — C. M. Wilmeth. 

Brethren A. B. Jones, G. W. Longan, J. Z. Taylor and Thomas Munnell. 
These are among our most thoughtful writers. They have done their work well, 
and we commend the book to all who feel an interest (and all ought to) in having 
and holding coi*rect views on the subjects of the influence of the Holy Spirit as 
our indwelling comforter. The book concludes with a selection— The influence 
of the Holy Spirit in Conversion and Sauctification — from the writings of A. 
Campbell.— Dr. W. II. Hopson. 

A neat little voiume, executed in faultless style. It consists of several essays, 
original and reprint, from leading thinkers of the Christian Church. It opens 
with an article by Elder A. B. Jones, upon "Consciousness and the Holy Spirit," 
and this is followed by one by G. W. Longan. There arc essays by Thomas Mun- 
nell and other writers, upon the same subject, taking a different view of the same 
subject. But the most important in the volume is an old essay of A. Campbell, 
on the Holy Spirit. To those desiring the views of able men upon this question 
we would commend the book. — B. W. Johnson. 



Address all orders to JOHN BURNS, Publisher, 717 Olive Street, St. Louis, Ma 



*<ffiW&f& ntMEW &A,T j&II©^^ 



-OF- 



BENJA MIN FRA NKLIN, 

Taken altogether, this hook is deserving of hearty approval as a valuahle con- 
trihntion of material towards the proper understanding of the work of a past 
generation, and of the life of one who, whatever may have heen his errors, de- 
veloped in his life many of the characteristics of true greatness— an indomitable 
worker, a ready writer; a powerful preacher, whose strong practical sense, 
houudless energy, and earnest devotion to his work would have made him a man 
of mark in any department of life; and which in his chosen department, lifted 
him out of poverty and obscurity to a position of great influence and successful 
leadership, and won for him the admiration and affection of multitudes. 

The publisher has done his work in creditable style. The book ought to have 
a large sale. — Isaac Errett. 



Life axd Times of Elder Benjamin Franklin. — "We have just received a copy 
of the above work, from the office of the publisher, John Burns, St. Louis, Mo. 
It is a very handsome volume of 508 pages, good, plain type, on nice, white 
paper, and neatly bound in cloth. 

We were very anxious to see the book, and rejoice that it has heen published. 
We regard it as a valuable addition to our Christian literature, and think a copy 
of it should be put into every Christian library, by the side of the lives of Stone, 
Smith, Johnson, the two Campbells, Walter Scott, and others. These biogra- 
phies of our great and good men should be read and studied by all, and especially 
our young preachers. — J. M. Mathes. 



The work comprises a biography of Elder Franklin from his childhood— em 
bracing his early life and surroundings, his conversion, consecration to the work 
of preaching ; his early efforts, trials, sufferings and encouragements. There are 
in this portion of his life some touching and pathetic incidents concerning his 
wife's struggles with poverty. His labor and growth as a preacher are recorded, 
his mistakes and faults are presented with fairness. His career as a writer is 
given, his connection with the various questions that presented themselves as 
matter of controversy with the denominations and among the disciples, his 
positions, changes and arguments are presented with fairness. Short sketches 
are given of many of the associates of Elder Franklin. 

The style is plain, direct and very attractive. We found it difficult to lay the 
book aside when we had once looked into it until we finished it. Our readers 
will find it an interesting and instructive volume. We hope all of them will get 
it and read it.— D. Lipscomb. 



The publisher has done his work well. There is nothing flashing nor fanciful 
in its makeup. The man whose deeds it records was a plain, practical man. 
On pages 68 and 71 is a very just tribute to the humble, patient woman, the wife 
of Benjamin Franklin, who waits a little longer until the summons comes to call 
her home. The paragraph is a just and beautiful tribute from an affectionate son 
to a pious and devoted mother. Read it. 

I hope that the book will have a very wide circulation. Let every one who can 
do so buy and read the Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin.— i?. B. Tyler. 

Address all orders to JOHN BURNS, Publisher, 717 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. 



We are much pleased with a cursory glance at its contents. The tribute of love 
and affection which Joseph Franklin pays to his mother, when reciting her trials 
and tribulations as the wife of a poor and struggling preacher, and when recall- 
ing her devotion and self-sacrifice in the darkest days of a pioneer's life, starts 
tears unbidden from our eyes, and causes us to thank God that he has given to 
the Church such peerless and faultless mothers. — John F. Rowe. 



We have received from the publisher, John Burns, "The Life and Times of 
Benjamin Franklin." It is a very neat and attractive volume of 508 pages. The 
publisher deserves much p'raise for the mechanical execution of the work. It is 
printed on good paper, and in large type, and old persons can read it with pleas- 
ure. We will speak of it again when we shall have read it. — Dr. W. H. Hopson. 



Benjamin Franklin was a great man. He was one of nature's noblemen. He 
was not a favorite of fortune. The golden gods never wove a chaplet around his 
brow, nor emptied their treasures in his lap. He was cue of the hardy sons of 
toil. His greatness was not the greatness of accident. He made himself great by 
the nobility of his life. He loved God and the truth. He never trimmed his sails 
to popular breezes. He was always on one side or the other of every important 
question, and generally on the right side. Though you might not always agree 
with him, you always knew where he stood. He gave no uncertain sound. He 
was a man for the people. His simplicity, his faith, and his devotion to the 
truth were simply sublime. In this lay his power. — Frank G. Allen. 



There is a real charm in biography, especially when the deeds and struggles of 
a valuable life are recorded. Few studies are so fascinating to a thoughtful man 
as that of the growth of a human soul, the upbuilding of a noteworthy human 
life. We cannot think of a man who has made his mark in the world, without 
wishing to know the processes of his development; to mark the conflict of forces 
within, and limitations without, under the moulding power of whose interac- 
tions he became, at last, what we know him to have been. In this case it is the 
world-old story of struggle and conflict of a strong, earnest nature, grappling 
bravely with adverse surroundings, and pressing forward with indomitable 
energy to final victory. The world is full of instances, doubtles, which illustrate 
the power of man over outward circumstances; but there are few such which are 
more satisfactory, I think, than that of the life traced in the volume before us. 
From the materials now accumulating, the historian of another generation will 
be able to do the chief actors of the last twenty-five years the justice of impartial 
judgment. Since each shall be present in the grand assizes of heaven, he cau the 
more willingly commit his reputation on earth to the oai'e of impartial posterity. 

The enterprising publisher, John Burns, deserves much credit for the hand- 
some shape in which the book is brought out.— G. W. Longan. 



It might be thought, by some who read the work, that there is too much of th 
1 'Times' ' and not enough of the • 'Life' ' of Benjamin Franklin ; but as the author 
justly claims, it could not have been done otherwise and be faithful. I regard the 
hookas a faithful portraiture, which, indeed, should be allowed by all, espe- 
cially since in the statement of propositions and differences, the author gives 
both sides 

A good part of the life of Bro. Franklin was the life of an editor, and my pen 
is uneasy to say something about the manner in which he conducted religious 
periodicals, but I must restrain it. Editors and preachers now-a-days think 
theirs is a toilsome, weary lot. Dear me! Well, let them read the Life of Ben- 
jamin Franklin and become ashamed of themselves.— £. B. Wilkes. O. A. Carr. 

Address all orders to JOHN BURNS, Publisher, 717 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. 



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